Via Osmosis
by Uncle Stojil
Summary: The night he was sealed inside the human child, the Kyuubi conceived a plan meant to give him freedom. Twelve years later, that plan is finally set in motion. And the brat is going to cooperate, that he knows it or not. AU and slight FFVII crossover.
1. Prologue

Warning – This is unbetaed. Feel free to point out all the mistakes you see.

* * *

Prologue

* * *

The Kyuubi no Youko was excited. He couldn't remember when was the last time he had this much fun. Towering over the Village of the Leaf, the Demon Fox swept his tails left and right, bringing down buildings and entire groups of trees. Slobber was coming out of his mouth and cascading over the tiny ninjas and humans running away or toward him. His frenzied red eyes looked down at them with mixed feelings of amusement and challenge as different kinds of jutsu stormed around his paws, tails, and occasionally torso, scratching his skin and rarely inflicting shallow cuts.

He let out a deafening roar, a painfully loud sound to the men and women now crowding him, before attacking them with a powerful blast of chakra from his mouth. Few of the targets managed to escape the destructive attack, and he was already persecuting them with quick bullets of red energy and an accurate use of his paws. The more shinobi fell, the more he felt powerful.

It was exhilarating.

Suddenly sensing something, he jumped, barely dodging the knife thrust at him from behind by a huge toad with a pipe, of all the things, just appeared out of nowhere.

Now, that could mean fun!

The Kyuubi landed neatly on the ground, crushing part of the forest surrounding Konohagakure. He grinned a wide grin as he turned around towards his new opponent.

The toad - a summon, he thought - was staring up at him hard, knife held to the side and kimono flapping at the wind. On top of its head stood a human, a determined expression on his face as he said something to his mount, which charged forward with unexpected speed.

The Kyuubi met them halfway through, narrowly avoiding a water bullet the toad sent his way. As the big concentration of chakra exploded somewhere behind him, he sank his fangs on the knife-wielding arm descending upon him, effectively snapping it with a jerk of his head. The marvellous taste of blood filled his mouth for only a second before he was forcefully pushed away by the summon's other arm. He wouldn't have let go that easily if the summoner himself hadn't surprised him by doing something to his right foreleg. It felt like a large, pointy object had pierced him deeply, but as he carefully took a couple of steps away from his opponents, he couldn't see any weapon in the hands of the tiny one. He wondered about that for a moment before dismissing the whole thing as some kind of jutsu, probably wind-based, though he was secretly impressed by the sheer quantity of chakra the ninja had to pour behind it to hurt him, even if just a little.

He observed the blond man for a long second, smiling at the look of horror on his face in noticing how the injury in his foreleg had already started to heal. The toad's right arm instead was still hanging limply at its side while the huge knife lied forgotten among the trees. Its face was also scrunched up into a pained expression, but its eyes were blazing with rightful fury. It barked something to the ninja who looked taken aback for a moment before barking something back, never taking his eyes off of him in the meantime.

The Kyuubi didn't know what they were saying, not having ever bothered in learning human language, but he understood _body_ language well enough, and it was clear in their tone too that they were arguing about something. He didn't care much anyway, too excited about what had already been one of the best fights in a long time for him. Being as strong as he was, it was hard to find a decent opponent, and it was sad to think that even the most challenging ones could only hope to keep him entertained for some minutes.

The toad and the ninja weren't an exception. They were going to crumble soon. That said, he was glad he had met them. Letting the strange man with fancy eyes play his puppeteer-trick on him had been the right decision, after all. He would find him in no time, anyway, to _thank_ him properly for this great occasion.

The next attack was as fast as the previous, and doubly as vicious. The Kyuubi shot forward with incredible speed and was upon his opponents in an instant. The Demon Fox ignored the feeble punch of the summon and shrugged off the lightning jutsu of the summoner as his clawed paws slammed right on the chest of the toad and three of his mighty tails batted on its head and face. The huge animal was launched off its feet, its pipe flying away together with a spray of blood, before landing heavily on its back. The ground shook under its weight in a deep rumble of protest as the Kyuubi looked on in anticipation, wondering if the summon would stand up again or would just puff away in a cloud of smoke.

Needless to say, he was delighted in seeing it slowly regaining its feet, stumbling forward as its legs threatened to give away. It was losing a lot of blood from numerous wounds on the chest, where his claws had easily pierced it, and he was shaking its head as if to clear it from a daze. The blond ninja was still on top of its head, apparently unharmed, and his expression was one of resigned resolution. Summoner and summon then sighed simultaneously and when the former said something to the latter, a grim nod was all that followed.

The Kyuubi waited. His opponents were concocting something and he really wanted to see what that something was. It had to be a desperate move considering their condition, and desperation often led to foolish but at the same time dangerous attacks in a fight, generally for both parts. He was really curious. He slowly approached the two, circling almost lazily around them like a cat would do with a mouse, his tails wagging a little in eagerness. And when the ninja started performing some seals he couldn't help but grin, wondering just what kind of jutsu he had in store for him.

And then he felt it, some kind of energy pressing at him, though it was hardly a pressure and more like a tug. It was as if something was pulling at him, and he didn't like it at all. He moved to the left and away from the man who was certainly the cause of this, not daring to attack him at this moment, though. He took a defensive position instead, his bended legs ready to spring to life at the littlest sign of danger.

It turned out that it was unnecessary, for the only sign of danger he noticed appeared when it was already too late. The Kyuubi no Youko had to blink repeatedly before even believing what his eyes were seeing. That wasn't a sight you happened to face every day.

A translucent figure was hovering right behind the ninja still atop the toad. He was wearing a flowing white robe, and though the Demon Fox couldn't see his facial features, a pair of dark eyes was threatening to bore a hole into his very soul from behind a curtain of pale hair. His ghostly hand was literally going through the man still performing seals, and stretching all the way to the stunned bijuu looking at it with abject horror.

The Death God.

Holy crap.

The Kyuubi was completely immobilized; even using chakra seemed absolutely impossible at the moment. All he could do was looking on helplessly as the blond bastard finished up the jutsu. The Demon Fox knew about it. He had seen the results far too many times in the past. All his fellow bijuu had suffered the same fate, ending up sealed inside a human, forever prisoner until the host died. He even managed to speak to one of them, the monkey idiot, and what he had discovered then had upset him more than he thought it could have.

When the host died, so did the bijuu inside him.

Death.

The Kyuubi roared, or tried to anyway, struggling with all his power against the Shinigami's grip, but it was all useless.

He was battling a God.

He stopped, seething inside, and just stared at the ethereal figure with intent eyes. He wouldn't die. Not now, not ever. He would find a way to escape his human host, or to outlive him. He would fucking make him immortal, if that was the only way!

And then he would laugh in the Shinigami's face.

He was already looking forward to that moment, when the ninja, unexpectedly, hesitated. He stopped in the middle of a seal and started saying something in between gasping breaths, while his hold on the bijuu linked to him weakened slightly.

It took him maybe two seconds before he resumed.

The Kyuubi had been almost too surprised to take advantage of it. Keyword being 'almost'. Feeling a mixture of panic and exaltation inside, the Demon Fox did the first thing that came to mind.

He howled.

It was high-pitched and loud, and the very air shook intensely all around him. A huge load of red chakra, barely a tenth of his total, came out of his muzzle as it was pointed at the night sky. It hovered there for some seconds, lighting up the whole horizon with a crimson hue, before exploding in all directions, countless stars of tiny size flying away at great speed in a bizarre rain of sparks.

The Kyuubi brought his eyes back to the Shinigami and the blond man who had summoned it, and the victorious grin on his face displayed a respectable number of sharp, pointy teeth. The grip of the Death God was once again keeping him from moving or calling up chakra, but it didn't matter.

He had already done all he could.

It was with this feeling of satisfied resolution that he witnessed the ninja completing his jutsu until he knew no more.

* * *

Author's notes – Well, here's my new story. As said in the summary, it is a slight crossover with Final Fantasy VII, although it is not strictly necessary to know the game to understand it. What happened in this prologue (mainly the last blast of chakra by the Kyuubi) is what makes and will make this story an AU. Till next time.

Uncle Stojil


	2. Chapter 1

Warning – This is unbetaed. Feel free to point out all the mistakes you see.

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Chapter 1

* * *

"Naruto!" Umino Iruka called impatiently from atop the Hokage Monument. "Haven't you finished yet?"

"Almost done, Sensei!" the orange-clad kid shouted from where he dangled in front of the carved faces of the most powerful ninja in the history of Konoha. "Just wait for a minute!"

"You said that three times already!" The following sigh could be heard even from right in front of the Yondaime's chin. "I thought the incentive of free ramen would have made you clean everything up in an instant! Guess you're not that interested in it, after all…"

"Don't you dare go back on you word!" was the angry and slightly panicked reply. "You said it would be free ramen, and free ramen will be!"

"Okay, okay…" the scarred chuunin muttered before raising his voice again. "Just hurry up!"

The boy too muttered something, but more because of irritation than anything else.

The Kyuubi no Youko looked on in a somewhat bewildered state as his host's hand scratched and rubbed at the green surface in front of him with relentless fierceness. The initial feeling of excitement was already starting to wear off as he observed the boy's continued actions. He really felt like an idiot now, standing so stiffly and listening to his fast heartbeat like a little girl in front of her crush, but in reality, among the two of them, the idiot was Uzumaki Naruto.

"Damn it!" the boy swore loudly. He stopped for a moment, panting slightly, before resuming his activity with renewed vigour.

"What is it?" Umino Iruka asked him, having heard his student's frustration.

The little kid stopped again, looking up at his Sensei. "I cleaned up these stupid faces through and through, but… it's this damn stain!" he whined, the rag in his hand moving left and right. "It just doesn't go away!"

"Hmmm, really?" the ninja said curiously, and the Kyuubi could easily picture him scratching the scar on his nose. "Let's see then."

A couple of seconds later, the Academy teacher had climbed down the rope and landed next to Naruto, joining him on the small platform suspended in the air, right in front of the Fourth Hokage's chin.

"Now look," the blond wannabe-ninja started. "I dip this into the bucket full of soap," he said while demonstrating with his worn rag. "Then I wring it out just like _you_ told me," he continued almost accusingly as he did so. "I rub at the dirty area, aaaaaand… nothing happens! The green stain is still there!"

He looked almost proud of it for a moment before remembering that he actually should have felt irritated. The green stain was the thing keeping him away from free ramen, after all… so scratch 'irritated'! He should have been furious!

"Naruto," Iruka started, partially distracting him from his angry thoughts. "Just what are you talking about?"

"Eh?" the boy replied intelligently.

"What are you talking about?" the chuunin repeated with a puzzled expression. "There is no stain there."

Naruto stared at him for a couple of seconds before turning towards the Yondaime's chin again.

"What am _I_ talking about?" he asked frowning. "What are _you_ talking about! Can't you see this round, green… thing here?"

The man furrowed his brow in confusion and for about two or three seconds he _really_ peered at what Naruto's finger was pointing. Then he shook his head and turned towards his problematic student again.

"What kind of prank is this? Do you really believe you can convince me I'm becoming colour-blinded?"

At his words, the blond kid raised a menacing fist in the air. "Do _you_ really believe you can convince me there is no stain there?"

"But there IS no stain there!" Iruka exclaimed while patting the stone as if that served to prove his words. "Just some kind of circular crack on the stone… probably the doing of a troublemaker like you!"

"Bah! I would never do that!" Naruto snorted. "A crack in the Yondaime's chin… what prank would that be?! And by the way, what you just touched was green. Gree-een!"

He said the word very slowly as if speaking to a slow child, and a vein on the man's forehead started to bulge a little in response.

"Whatever," the ninja dismissed with a wave of his hand. "_I_ think we're finished here. It's already late and tomorrow the Genin exam YOU have to take part in will take place. If you want to come with me, I'm going to Ichiraku now."

He shook his head after that and started climbing up again towards the top of the Hokage Monument, mumbling something about idiotic pranks as he did.

Naruto's eyes sparked with happiness. "Yes!" he shouted, glancing once at the green stain in front of him. "But if the Hokage scolds me about that broccoli ball on his predecessor's face, I'm telling on you!"

"Drop it!" was the annoyed shout coming from above, and the boy easily complied, thoughts about steaming cups of ramen already filling his mind.

The Kyuubi could only shake his head at the surreal scene that had just played in front of him. He wondered not for the first time if the blond Hokage who had defeated him almost twelve years before, had actually _searched_ through all the Shinobi lands in order to find the most thick headed, unobservant baby on Earth to act as his host. He watched as the boy rearranged everything he had on the small platform, a content smile on his face and a skip to his step, and for a moment, the bijuu didn't know what to do.

Was he really going to let this chance pass by without doing anything? This was the first time the blond kid had come so close to one of _those_, and it sure seemed such waste of an opportunity to just let him walk away as if it didn't matter. It would be so easy… a word, just a word and everything would be finally set in motion.

His plan for freedom.

The temptation was strong, but so were the risks to just ruin it all. Knowing the boy, if he contacted him now, he would immediately alert his teacher by doing something stupid like babbling aloud like a moron. It was a small miracle the argument about the _green stain_ hadn't led to anything bad. He guessed that Naruto's stupidity and prank-obsession had turned to his advantage in this particular instance.

He sighed tiredly as he slowly curled back up inside his cage, tails swinging uneasily for a little while before finally settling on the damp ground.

No, he decided. He just had to wait a little more.

Wait for a better chance.

He idly followed his host's actions while the chuunin got ready to bring up the small platform. He was wondering just how long he would have to wait, when he caught the boy's curious look lingering on the Yondaime's chin and on the mysterious 'stain' on it.

The Kyuubi couldn't help but grin a little.

Maybe, just maybe, it wouldn't be very long.

* * *

It was a cool and humid night of autumn and Konohagakure was still and quiet. Not a soul could be seen walking through the streets of the Village and only a few houses were lit up by the still awake people inhabiting them. Of course, being Konoha a ninja village, the most activity was probably taking place in the shadows rather than in plain sight.

And it was in the shadows that Uzumaki Naruto was moving now.

It was almost second nature to him, having developed impressive sneaky skills in order to avoid being caught immediately after one of his pranks. He slipped silently from one dark corner to another without really needing to. It wasn't like he was about to do anything secret, after all, but throughout his life he had learned that it was less trouble this way.

When he finally reached his destination, he started making his way on it. Climbing the Hokage Monument was a tricky business, but that too had become second nature to him. He passed enough time on top of it to know every possible route like the back of his hand and that night he easily took the one that provided him both secrecy and silence. When he reached the top, he carefully descended its front through the Yondaime's hair before finally managing to secure his balance thanks to its nose. Its nostrils where the perfect place to put his feet, and he did so, panting a little, both because of the effort and because of the anxiousness. He looked at the street below and gulped in seeing how far away it seemed to be. He licked his lips lightly before awkwardly resuming his descent.

Needless to say, the Kyuubi was extremely excited. Again. He watched with avid interest as the boy landed on a comfortable-enough spot right on the Yondaime's left and proceeded to secure his position. The Demon Fox couldn't stop his tails from wagging all around with tremendous speed.

It was starting. Finally.

After making sure that he was standing safely on a solid surface and that his feet wouldn't suddenly slip, Naruto raised his blue eyes again and pointed them curiously at the spot he was interested in.

The green stain was still there, much to his satisfaction. He wasn't imagining things then! He brought his left hand to it and slowly brushed it with his fingers, noticing how it felt slightly different than the rest of the mountain. It was very smooth, not nubby at all, and warm despite the chilly air. He wondered if Iruka had lied about it or if he really couldn't see it. Well, that wasn't exact. The scarred chuunin had seen it well enough, considering he had talked about the circular crack Naruto was touching at the very moment. He just hadn't realized that the part within that crack wasn't a dull gray like the rest of the Yondaime's face, but a deep green. Maybe the man was really color-blind... or green-blind. Maybe that had been some kind of prank, though a questionable one at that. Or maybe...

"Maybe I'm the only one who can see it's green..." he mumbled amused at the idea.

The Kyuubi thought for a moment before finally making up his mind.

'_Not really,_' he told Naruto startling him badly.

"Wah!" The boy withdrew his hand immediately and almost lost his balance risking to fall because of the sudden forcefulness of his movement. "The stain talks!" he exclaimed, pointing at it.

The Demon Fox rolled his eyes, though he was tempted to just go along with Naruto's idiotic idea for a while. '_First_,' he said instead, '_that is _not_ a stain. And second, _I_ am not the stain._'

The orange-clad kid looked around agitated before demanding, "Who are you then?" His eyes widened like discs a second later when he looked up at the carved face of the Fourth Hokage. "T-the Yondaime?"

'_No, Naruto. I'm not the Yondaime_,' the bijuu replied before amending. '_Although he's with me right now... sorta._'

"What!" The blond looked around excitedly again. "Are you the Nidaime?"

'_No_.'

"The Shodai then?"

'_No, I'm-_'

"You can't possibly be the Sandaime?!"

'_If you would just let me-_'

"Oh, I know! I know! You're just a wild spirit, right?"

'_SHUT UP!_' the Kyuubi shouted, now exasperated. When the boy thankfully closed his mouth, the bijuu could have admitted that yes, he was, after all, a wild spirit of sorts, but he wanted to stop the guesswork game, which was starting to annoy him a lot. He had better ways to waste his precious time, anyway. '_Listen carefully kid, and try not to freak out,_' he said seriously, rolling his eyes at Naruto's pouting. '_I'm the Kyuubi no Youko and I'm currently imprisoned inside of you_.'

At those words, Naruto blinked his eyes repeatedly before expressing his opinion on the matter.

"Eh?"

The Demon Fox tried a different approach.

'_Do you remember Iruka's lesson about the Yondaime?_' he asked. '_You usually listen to the lectures when they're about the Hokage._'

Naruto nodded confusedly, still looking up and down in search of the source of the voice.

'_Iruka told you that the Yondaime died after killing the Nine-Tails, but that wasn't the truth,_' the Kyuubi pressed on in a grim tone. '_The Yondaime died after sealing him away. After sealing him - me - inside of you_.'

"What? Me?" The blond's brain was starting to work normally again, which wasn't saying much in the bijuu's opinion. "What are you talking about? I think I would know if a huge fox lived inside my body!"

'_More like behind your navel, actually, but it doesn't really matter._' Naruto's curious look made him hesitate. '_What_?'

The wannabe-ninja brought his hand down to his stomach. "Are you the one who makes those fluffy little balls?"

The bijuu snorted at the joke before realizing the boy hadn't meant it as one. '_No, I'm not!_' he replied quite indignantly.

"Well," Naruto grumbled, shrugging. "That would have explained it..."

The Demon Fox sighed irritably but strategically reigned on his temper. In the following silence, he studied his host's expressions intently. '_You still don't believe me_,' he stated simply and the boy frowned.

"It's not that I don't believe you... No, you're right. I don't believe you."

The Kyuubi rolled his eyes. '_Fine, then. Why don't you ask the Hokage?_'

"Ojiisan knows?!" Naruto asked, shocked.

'_Of course he knows. Everyone does._' He tried to keep an unconcerned voice as he said the next words. '_Why do you think everyone hates you?_'

It took him a couple of seconds, but then Naruto's mind finally elaborated this additional piece of news.

"It's you! It's your fault!" he shouted, pointing at... the 'stain' again.

'_It's not my fault. It's because of me, that's different,_' the bijuu corrected.

"It's not different!" Naruto continued stubbornly. "They hate me because you're living in my navel among my fluffy balls!"

The Demon Fox snorted. '_And whose fault is that?_'

The boy opened his mouth to vent again before closing it forcefully. He then glared upwards at the Yondaime's carved face. "You bastard!" he shouted, pointing again. "I hate you!"

'_I'll make sure to pass on the message when I see him,_' the Kyuubi said blandly. '_Although I wasn't referring to him either when I asked who was to blame. Just like with me, the whole situation is because of him, but it's not his fault._'

"Who, then?" Naruto simply asked. Even _he_ was getting tired of guessing wildly about all the mysteries of the day.

'_The Villagers, of course,_' the bijuu said nonchalantly. '_They hate _you_ because _I_ am inside of you. How stupid is that?_' He observed as the boy thought about it for a moment before continuing. '_They probably fear you're actually me, or you will become eventually, but we both know that is not true. Somewhere deep inside, I'm fairly certain they know that too._'

Naruto was starting to appear convinced by the argument as he nodded his head. Then his expression became serious all of a sudden.

"It doesn't matter, anyway" he said with resolution, and the Kyuubi quieted at the look in his eyes. "I don't care why they hate me and I don't care if it's their fault. When I'll become the best Hokage in Konoha's history, everything will change. They'll surely acknowledge my strength then, and they won't hate me anymore." He thrust his thumb at his own chest and smiled slightly. "Believe it."

The Kyuubi stared for a moment before shaking his head in amusement. He had suspected it, really. Twelve years of constant vigilance over the boy had left the bijuu with a pretty accurate outline of his personality, and he knew the boy was practically unable to hold a grudge. Especially now, after the scarred chuunin's lecture about the importance and the role of Hokage, he knew Naruto would have never been able to hate the villagers for how they treated him. Sure, if he had put his mind to the task, the Demon Fox could have manipulated him subtly enough to actually make him bitter or slightly resentful towards Konoha, but that was it. Naruto was just too big of a naive idiot.

That said, the Kyuubi had no intention whatsoever to turn his host against the Village. That would be against his own interests. He needed Naruto to be strong, and alienating him from those who would help him with that wasn't such a great idea. The Academy teachers were proof enough of that already, having practically sabotaged his ninja education to an extent, Umino Iruka excluded. He just hoped the boy would pass the incoming Genin exam and finally meet a real Sensei willing to teach him for real. That was essential to his plan.

'_I believe it_,' the Kyuubi said after a long silence. '_And I'll help you_.'

"Really?" the boy asked hopefully, and he really seemed happy about it. "Would you do that?"

'_I'm bored, anyway_.'

"Gee, thanks..." Naruto replied now less enthusiastic. "What kind of help can you give me, anyway?"

The bijuu huffed in contempt. '_That would bring us back to the 'stain', as you called it_.' He watched as the wannabe-ninja furrowed his brow and stared at the Yondaime's chin hard. '_Take out a kunai._'

As the boy chiseled around their objective, whining about desecrating the Hokage monument - again - in the meantime, the Kyuubi couldn't help but grin a little.

'_Finally_', he thought for the umpteenth time that day, and this time, it was the real thing.


	3. Chapter 2

Warning – This is unbetaed. Feel free to point out all the mistakes you see.

* * *

Chapter 2

'_Try it, now_.'

At those words whispered to his mind, Uzumaki Naruto took a deep breath and a step forward. He looked down with a scrunched-up face for a moment before raising the stone held between his fingers.

It was instantaneous. As soon as he had reached out with his right hand, a green circle of light flashed all around him and then thunder rumbled powerfully ahead before a bolt of lightning took life from it and came crashing down on the ground. Every hair in his body stood up on end for more than one reason as he observed the blackened spot where the jutsu had just struck. Around it in a circle, greengrass had caught on fire and was lazily burning down to ashes.

"Holy shit!" Naruto shouted.

'_Yeah, I know,_' was the Kyuubi's smug reply. '_Still think I can't be of any help from inside here?_'

Things were going pretty well, if the bijuu could say so. He had taken the boy to an isolated corner of Konoha's forest and urged him to try out the attack without even explaining what it did beforehand. Not that even he himself knew what would have happened… It was a success, though, judging by the blond's excited reaction.

"I'm taking back everything bad I've ever said about you," Naruto said animatedly. "That was so cool!"

'_It was, wasn't it?_'

"Just... what is this thing?" the boy asked looking at the stone in his hands with wide eyes. It was a perfectly round sphere, large enough to fit in his small palm precisely, and smooth, so very smooth it reminded him of that velvet cloth he had stolen that one time from that fine store near the Hokage tower. It was also kind of warm, more so now that it had somehow unleashed its amazing power, and its normally green color was now specked with tiny, electrical-blue bolts slithering about under its surface. Naruto continued to look entranced at it while the Kyuubi answered him.

'_It's the physical form my chakra took after I blasted it out in my final battle against the Yondaime_,' he explained. '_You remember what chakra is, right?_'

"Erm... it's the thing you use for a jutsu, isn't it?" he asked distractedly while inspecting the stone gleaming in the moonlight.

'_Yes, Naruto_,' the bijuu said as calmly as possible. '_But technically it's the perfect fusion between the two kinds of energy everyone possesses, as in to say physical and spiritual energy. When you ninja channel it through seals, you perform a jutsu._' He made a slight pause in order to see if the idiot had questions before continuing. '_Now, what you're holding is raw, __crystallized__ chakra. My chakra. This concentration in particular had probably a lightning affinity considering what we've just seen, but I spat out a _large_ quantity of it before being imprisoned here... and this is just a tiny, __infinitesimal__ part of it._'

Naruto, who had miraculously been able to follow the Kyuubi's explanation, thought about it for a moment before speaking up. "So you're saying there are more of these... things? And that they have different powers?"

'_Exactly,_' the Demon Fox whispered alluringly before letting out a growl. '_But stop calling them things! They'll __get offended__!_' He growled again at Naruto rolling his eyes. '_I call them... Materia_.'

"Materia?" Naruto repeated while trying to contain a laugh and failing. "That's," he started, but had to stop to laugh some more. "That's what a tracking-expert ninja called dog-poop during a lesson last year!"

'_I know, I was there too, wasn't I?_' the bijuu said irritably to the still laughing child, remembering how he had been surprised when that supposed track-expert had decided that shit, crap and poop couldn't be used in front of children. The ninja, who was as awkward as you get with kids, had made a short pause in search of a good term and just _had_ to come up with 'Materia'. Stupid bastard. '_Anyway, as I was saying, there should be many more Materia all around the world and they should be- Would you stop laughing?_'

"Sorry," Naruto apologized still guffawing. "It's just that in class we joked about that for weeks! It's hard to take it seriously now that you brought that up again."

'_I hoped you had forgotten about that, but I should have known better._'

"So..." Naruto resumed still giggling a little. "Where are all these... Materia?"

'_I don't know... exactly._'

"What does that mean?" the boy asked, puzzled. "You don't know?"

'_I don't know _exactly,' the Kyuubi repeated. _'When I let out that powerful blast of raw chakra, it parted into hundreds, maybe thousands smaller pieces and they flew randomly in every direction. It wasn't like I planned this whole thing when I launched my last attack,_' he lied. '_But they're still part of me. You see, I _am _chakra._"

There was silence for a long moment. "Aren't you a fox?"

The bijuu sighed at the idiot. '_I took the appearances of a fox a long time ago, but what I am, in substance, is a huge concentration of spiritual and physical energy. I'm chakra, and Materia is chakra as well, and my own to boot. I can feel their presence, so I know their location... more or less_._ And you should be able to sense them too._'

"Me?"

'_Yes. The fact you can see its color while the chuunin teacher can't is no coincidence,_' the bijuu explained as Naruto peered down at the stone with a pensive expression. '_Did you feel anything strange when you took the Materia for the first time?_'

Naruto thought back to when he was finally able to extract the small object from the Yondaime's chin. "No, I don't think so."

'_But you felt something when you _used_ it, right? Do you feel it now?_'

The boy squeezed his eyes shut and scrunched up his face in concentration.

"Yeah… I think I do," he said after a moment of silence. "It's like… I don't know… like having something on the tip of my tongue."

'_Literally or-_'

"No. I mean…" Naruto frowned slightly as he tried to explain himself. "It's like almost remembering something."

'_Hmmm_,' the Kyuubi said noncommittally. '_Whatever works, I guess… Anyway, try and leave the Materia in this clearing while you step away. Let's see if you can sense it._'

The boy did as he was told and much to his surprise he _did_ feel something, almost a pull, towards the place he had just left. When he eventually closed his fingers on the green sphere again, the previously described sensation of recollection came back to him effectively proving the Demon right.

'_See? You're able to sense it, like I thought_' he reiterated. '_Now, can you feel a 'pull' towards some other place? Can you feel some other Materia around?_'

Naruto remained silent for many seconds this time around. "Nothing, I feel nothing" he then said with a shrug. "Does that mean there's no other Materia nearby?"

'_Not necessarily. It could mean that you still are not very well versed in sensing them_.'The bijuu decided to lie after a moment of deliberation. '_That said, there _aren't_ other Materia nearby indeed. Unfortunately, it appears that almost all of them were sent far away from where they had started. The one you hold was probably destined to fall much further, but the Hokage Monument must have stopped its flight thanks to its height._'

"Aw, this sucks!" Naruto whined. "This means I won't be able to reach them!"

'_You will, though, once you become a genin and are sent out of the Village for missions._'

"Right!" the blond cheered. "Tomorrow I will finally make genin!"

'_Not if your exam goes as the previous two…_' The Kyuubi pointed out.

"It won't!" Naruto pouted at the Materia in his hands. The sphere had reverted back to its original appearances, no longer adorned with bolts of lightning just under its surface. It had also lost some of its warmth while it remained fascinatingly smooth. "It won't with this thing!"

'_Electrocuting your taijutsu examiner or burning to ashes your written test won't give you any points, as much as you'd like that,_' the Fox said derisively. '_I also don't think the Academy proctors will ask you and your fellow twelve-year-old students to perform a lightning jutsu in the ninjutsu portion of the exam. They will likely ask a Henge, a Kawarimi or a Bunshin._'

"Well, there's no problem with those!" Naruto bragged pointing at his chest. "I can Kawarimi faster than wind and I can show my perfect Oiroke no jutsu if it comes down to Henge. I'll make Iruka always remember about the worst nose-bleeding of his whole life!"

'_What about the Bunshin?_' the bijuu asked.

Naruto hesitated for a moment before shrugging. "I'll think about something."

'_Yeah, right._' The following snort earned the Kyuubi a glare from the boy – via Materia, of course. '_Well, there's nothing I can do for you about that. Your clones really suck. We can only hope we won't be asked the Bunshin tomorrow._' The glare intensified but he ignored it. '_Now, why don't you give the Lightning Materia another go?_'

Naruto smiled eagerly at that, soon forgetting about his everyday's annoyances.

He was in for a fun night.

* * *

Naruto stood in the middle of the clearing with a large smile on his face. In front of him a perfect copy of himself grinned back with a happy expression.

"I did it!" both of them cheered, jumping enthusiastically. The real Naruto took the other's arms and launched him in the air. He then was subjected to the same treatment.

The Kage Bunshin no jutsu was such a cool skill! And it was even easier than the normal Bunshin no jutsu! It had taken him less than a day to learn it while he still couldn't manage a normal, incorporeal clone after more than two years of practice.

The Kyuubi was thinking about the same thing in the meantime, but he was more surprised than pleased.

'_What the hell!?_'

Naruto stopped his joyous dance long enough to brag at his prisoner.

"Ah! I told you I could do it!" he shouted. "I'm awesome!"

The bijuu was still too stunned to answer. This shouldn't be possible, he thought for the umpteenth time in the last minute. How could this be possible?

'_Naruto!_' he suddenly called, almost struck by an epiphany. '_Reread the explanation for a second, would you?_'

The blond ordered his copy to fetch the Forbidden scroll lying on the ground nearby, and the Kage Bunshin did that while jumping and back-flipping like an idiot. He brought it back after another round of clowning and the large scroll was soon in the original's hands.

After a couple of seconds, the Kyuubi finally managed to convince Naruto to take a look at it.

"What's the point of this, anyway?" the boy asked eventually, annoyed by the other's persistence. He dutifully let his eyes wander through the scroll, though, because if not, his tenant couldn't see it. "I already learnt it!"

The Fox didn't say anything for some seconds before finally nodding his head.

'_I see..._' he murmured.

"What?"

'_I see why you were able to learn it despite it being a hundred times more difficult and demanding than the Bunshin no jutsu,_' he explained. '_And I see why you just can't manage the latter._'

"And why is that?" Naruto asked with interest. The Bunshin no jutsu had, no earlier than the previous morning, made him fail for the third time straight the conventional Genin exam. And although he was now going to be Genin anyway, having passed the special test Mizuki-sensei had told him about, he still wanted to know what he did wrong.

'_It's because you always overpowered it,_' the bijuu stated. '_To create a normal clone you have to use roughly a _hundredth_ of the chakra needed to create a Shadow clone._'

"So?"

'_So if you were able to create one of the latter, it means you have such a large quantity of energy._'

"Doesn't anyone?" Naruto asked with confusion.

'_No, and this is why I previously told you you couldn't possibly be able to learn the Kage Bunshin no jutsu!_' the Demon Fox exclaimed excitedly. '_No kid your age has the amount of chakra necessary!_'

"So I have loads of chakra!" Naruto shouted jovially, high-fiving his confused clone. "I'm supercool!"

'_Yes. It's probably my doing, though. I guess my presence inside of you must have enlarged your chakra coils or something._'

"My chakra what?"

'_Chakra coils._ _It's where chakra flows inside one's body,_' the Kyuubi said distractedly.

"Oh."

'_Maybe it's because of the chakra leaking out of the cage and through the seal,_' he murmured pensively. '_God knows how long I tried to stop it. But if I had known it would have this effect I wouldn't have bothered. This could prove useful._'

The bijuu went on this road of thinking in silence for the next few seconds. So the idiot was stronger than most already and had a chakra capacity far exceeding that of his peers. Just… how far?

Naruto who had kept quiet in the meantime, he himself thinking about this new discovery, finally spoke up. "How does this explain why I can't do a Bunshin, though?"

'_What? Oh, like I said, you most probably just overpower it,_' the Fox answered abandoning his line of thoughts. '_Since I'm apparently the only one who paid attention at the Academy, I don't expect you to know this, but the more chakra you have the more difficult it gets to control it._'

"You mean I don't control how much power I use and I use too much for the Bunshin no jutsu?" the blond asked confusedly. "Wouldn't I end up with a superstrong clone if that was the case? Mine ends up looking sick instead!"

'_No, the only way for you not to botch the jutsu up with that much energy would be to create a higher number of clones. Why don't you try while we're at it, hmmm?_'

Naruto mulled the idea in his head for a couple of seconds. "You said a Shadow clone needs a hundred times the chakra of a normal one, right? So... do I create a hundred?"

'_That would be obvious, wouldn't it?_'

"Right."

Naruto scrunched up his face in concentration and went about the motions he had spent so many hours in learning since his initial failures. This time, though, the jutsu was not a failure. Far from it.

"Wow…"

All around him now stood exact replicas of himself, looking stoic and expressionless as they moved about under his mental orders.

"Eh? So many already?" the Kage Bunshin asked with wide eyes. Then a clone went right past him as he tried to avoid another one. "Ah, they're normal Bunshin!"

"Of course!" Naruto looked at his corporeal copy with sceptic eyes. "Weren't you listening to our conversation?"

"Uhm, Naruto…" the other started, looking as if he was speaking to a slow child. "You were talking to yourself."

"I wasn't!" the original protested. "I was talking to the Fox!"

"Oh. Well, I couldn't hear that. Wait a moment!" The Shadow clone tilted his head to a side while his eyes roamed about. "Hey, there's no Fox inside of me! Or at least he's not answering…"

'_Of course there isn't,_' the Kyuubi explained. '_With a Shadow clone you make a perfect copy of yourself, but while I'm inside of you, I'm _not_ part of you. You don't hold that kind of power over me so you can't reproduce me._'

The original Naruto reported that to the clone.

"Well, that doesn't seem such a bad thing," the Kage Bunshin offered before evidently realizing something. Sure enough, after snapping his fingers, he pulled something out of his pocket. "But I have this!"

Both Naruto looked at the replica of the green sphere in the clone's hand and then the original added his own.

'_Every object, weapons and clothes included, on the user's body are replicated with the jutsu for the duration of the clone itself,_' the Kyuubi quoted as he rolled his eyes. '_Really, if you would just bother reading the whole explanation on the scroll..._'

Naruto looked sheepish at that while the Kage Bunshin, distracted, had decided to try his own Materia on the normal Bunshin nearby. There was the by now familiar circle of green light around the caster and a bolt of lightning immediately struck down on the clones without, of course, hurting anyone. Only the ground was left blackened after the thunder had ended, while the incorporeal Narutos continued to roam about.

"Wow…" the original whispered in awe.

"Neat, isn't it?" the clone asked turning to his creator.

"No, I mean, yes…" The real blond wasn't even looking at the place where the bolt had fallen. His eyes were rooted to the Materia in his hand, instead.

'_You noticed, huh?_' the Kyuubi whispered conspiratorially.

Another step towards his freedom had just been made and he couldn't help but grin.

Naruto was nodding in the meantime with wide eyes.

"It got bigger, I'm sure of it," the blond said. "I was looking at it and saw it become larger. Only a little, I almost didn't notice it, but… I'm sure of it. Did you see it too?"

"I didn't see anything," the Kage Bunshin said right as the Kyuubi answered, '_Of course I saw it._'

"Why is that?" the boy asked with wonder while the clone quieted down, finally understanding that the original was once again talking with the Fox.

'_Materia is sentient_.'

"Sentient?"

'_Yeah, it means it lives... sorta._'

"But it's just chakra!" Naruto protested.

'_So am I and that doesn't stop me from talking and thinking. From living,_' the bijuu reasoned. '_Materia, of course, is not as complex as me, but it still has a conscience._'

"So, does it just grow as time goes on?"

'_If that had been the case, you would have a hole three times as big on the Yondaime's chin, now,_' the Kyuubi pointed out.

"So it grows whenever I use it."

'_It's not that either, not exactly,_' the Demon Fox corrected, trying to think about a good way to explain it to the idiot. '_I said it's sentient, right? Then think about what makes you human grow, not physically, but spiritually._'

"And what is that?" Naruto asked curiously.

'_Mainly whatever new experience you have, be it good or bad,_' the Kyuubi said. '_Materia grows just like that, mostly. This one in particular was used for the first time by a clone. I guess that should be considered a new experience._'

"How large does it grow?" Naruto asked excitedly. "And does it get stronger the bigger it gets?"

'_I don't know that,_' the Kyuubi lied. '_I guess there's only one way to know._'

As if reading the Demon's mind, Naruto turned immediately towards his Shadow clone with a glint in his eyes.

"What?" the Kage Bunshin asked feeling a little uneasy.

He managed to jump away to avoid taking the following bolt of lightning right on, but not enough to dodge it completely. Under the watchful gaze of both the original Naruto and the Fox, the clone was dispelled and the Materia enlarged.

"It didn't look more powerful to me," the remaining corporeal blond said disappointedly.

'_But on the plus side, it got bigger again, probably because you hit a real target with it for the first time,_' the bijuu said. '_And dispelling the clone ultimately proved that I cannot be replicated._'

"How did it prove that?" Naruto asked puzzled.

'_I didn't get any memories from my hypothetic clone, so there was no clone._'

"Memories? What memories?"

There was silence for a long second before the Kyuubi spoke up again.

'_I get the fact you didn't read the whole explanation of the jutsu,_' he started calmly only to then raise his voice. '_But how the HELL could you NOT notice the stream of MEMORIES flowing in your mind?! Are you that thick-headed?_'

"Hey!"

'_Do you really _not_ remember standing where your clone stood and doing what your clone did? Not even dodging that lightning?_'

"Well, now that you mention it…"

The Fox sighed exasperatedly. '_The Kage Bunshin is much more than a normal Bunshin, and not only because it's corporeal and can hit enemies. If you had read the description till the end you'd know it was meant to be a spy jutsu upon its creation. That's because once dispelled, the clone sends all his memories to the original. Do you get how useful is that?_'

"I bet perverts would love it," Naruto grumbled amusedly. "They could send one to the hot springs without fearing to be discovered and hit. They would even want that, probably!"

'_That's... surprisingly a good comparison,_' the Kyuubi admitted._ 'Think about it but with an enemy camp instead of a hot spring. Or think about all those boring days at the Academy. With this jutsu, you could have sent a clone to listen to lectures and lessons, while the real you trained at home or wandered around the Village._'

"Wow," Naruto whispered excitedly. "This is even better than I thought…"

'_Going back to what we were discussing before this distraction, though,_' the bijuu resumed, '_the lightning wasn't any more powerful than the first time you used the Materia, despite the latter being bigger. And if it doesn't get a bit more powerful every time it gets a bit bigger, then odds are it will make a greater upgrade once more _experience_ has been piled up._'

"What do you mean?" the blond asked confused.

'_I mean that if you use a Materia enough, there will come a time when it will _suddenly_ become much more powerful than it was before._'

"Cool!" Naruto cheered, staring at the green sphere. "And when will it be?"

'_That I don't know._'

Naruto's grin didn't weaver in the littlest. "I hope a few hours will be enough because I want to show Iruka both the Kage Bunshin and this," he said with a nod. "And the more impressive the lightning, the better."

'_About that..._' the Fox said effectively attracting the boy's attention. '_I don't think you should trust Mizuki's words about the so called special test._'

"What?" the blond asked incredulous. "Why?"

'_Well, it is suspicious at best._'

"Why do you say that?"

'_Think about it,_' the Kyuubi urged.'_The test is about stealing something. That alone is odd already, but seeing as we're talking about ninja education here, it could be considered normal. But what is to steal here was something _forbidden_, and most of all belonging to the _Hokage_!_'

"No," Naruto protested, shaking his head. "Mizuki only wanted me to know something exciting to make Iruka pass me!"

'_Why didn't he just give you a scroll of his, then? Why didn't he teach you something?_' He shrugged his shoulders. '_Surely a chuunin sensei has a suitable jutsu for a young genin, right?_'

"He wanted something more impressive!" the blond replied stubbornly.

'_Yeah, right,_' the bijuu agreed with a snort._ 'Come on, Naruto! How naïve can you be?_'

Doubt started creeping into the boy's mind while his tenant continued.

'_My guess is Mizuki used us to get his hands on the Forbidden scroll. I definitely thought something was wrong from the very beginning, but it was only when I realized that even the old man didn't know anything that I understood it was all Mizuki's doing._'

"That was why you told me not to go to the place he told me about," Naruto said quietly, finally getting it. "And why you told me to run away from the Hokage's house as if someone was following me after one of my pranks."

'_Yeah._'

"Why didn't you tell me immediately?"

The Kyuubi shrugged his shoulders before realizing the idiot couldn't see that.

'_I'm doing it now._'

They were quiet for a long time. Countless of Bunshin continued to roam about the clearing, following the last order they had received. Naruto stayed still for another long minute before reaching for the Forbidden scroll and rolling it.

'_What are you going to do?_' the Fox asked.

"Simple," Naruto said dead serious. "I'm gonna go to the place Mizuki told me about and kick his ass!"

The bijuu rolled his eyes at the stupidity of his human container. '_What makes you so certain you can?_'

"The fact that I'm pissed."

The Kyuubi snorted.

'_What makes you so certain the Hokage will believe you when you bring him the bloodied Mizuki, then?_' the Fox pressed on lazily. '_It will be your word against his, after all._'

Naruto considered it for a moment before dismissing it. "I'll make the bastard confess."

The bijuu just rolled his eyes with a tired sigh.

'_If you'll let me, I have a better suggestion._'

"What is it?" the boy grudgingly asked. His original idea was admittedly starting to sound worse by the second.

'_I suggest to make good use of the best skills you have – stealth and now Kage Bunshin._'

Naruto thought about it for a moment before giving up.

"And how do we do that?"

On his part, the Kyuubi started grinning wolfishly from inside his cage.

'_I have a plan._'

__________________

Author's notes – This is the second chapter. The only thing I wanted to say was about the Kyuubi not being cloned in my story. I perfectly know this goes against what is canon – considering Naruto's elemental training – but I don't care, because I regard that as a plot hole, or maybe, something Kishimoto didn't care about (it's not so important, admittedly). Anyway, thank you for reading.

Uncle Stojil


	4. Chapter 3

Warning – This is unbetaed. Feel free to point out all the mistakes you see.

* * *

Chapter 3

* * *

Mizuki got back home tired and angry. It had been a long and difficult day, to say the least, and he was in desperate need of a shower and of a good night of sleep.

The plan had not gone like he expected it to, and it was all the bastard demon's fault.

As he thought this for the umpteenth time in the last day, he stumbled inside with a loud yawn and closed the door behind his back after switching the lights on.

He immediately noticed that something was off. The door leading to the kitchen was not like he had left it, being almost completely closed instead of open, and there was a dim light coming from the room beyond.

Mizuki stealthily made his way to the opening and pushed the wooden door just a little bit more before gasping.

From behind the open fridge, the head of Uzumaki Naruto snapped in his direction at the sound, peering at him with surprise.

"Oh, Sensei, it's you!" he shouted with a munched piece of cheese in hand. "About time! I waited for you for ages!"

Mizuki calmed himself after an instant of shock and could only grit his teeth dangerously at the blond. He had been here all this time! In his own house! And he lost so much time running all around the Village! Almost a whole day of wild chase! The bastard had not gone where he had told him and couldn't be found anywhere! Dozens of shinobi and teams were sent on his tail but no one had been able to find him! Finally, the Hokage had called the search off and assigned the task of bringing both the boy and the scroll back to a single tracking team, and meanwhile, he had been-

His fuming mind suddenly elaborated what it had just thought.

"The scroll!" he whispered and his eyes settled on the big object on the corner of the kitchen. He recognized it from all his study and research.

The Forbidden Scroll.

"Yeah, I took it like you told me! Had to knock out the Hokage to do that, though… I hope Ojiisan doesn't punish me for that," Naruto said with a wide smile. It dimmed though a second later. "But I couldn't learn anything on it. It's so complicated! I thought you could give me a hand in reading all those kanji, though. Can you, Sensei?"

As Naruto finished his plea, Mizuki burst out laughing.

"Oh my!" he said excitedly. "You brought it to my house! I hadn't hoped that much after the last day!"

Naruto's expression was puzzled. "Sensei?"

The chuunin laughed again.

"After I waited for you in front of the house in the woods and you didn't show up, I had thought you had seen through my trick," Mizuki said grinning like a mad man. "But now you're here. In my house."

"Trick?" Naruto asked uncertainly and the man snorted.

"Did you really think I would tell you to steal the Forbidden scroll just to let you pass the Genin exam?" Mizuki asked derisively. "You're an idiot! I only used you to get my hands on it and put all the blame on you!" He laughed again. "You made me sweat for a moment, but you did a good job, demon!"

Whatever the chuunin expected, it wasn't for Naruto's confused expression to suddenly disappear. The blond idiot then folded his arms slowly and raised an eyebrow.

"Don't you have enough now?" he asked looking to the left.

Mizuki frowned slightly at that, and was about to say something when he suddenly sensed them.

Ninja.

His next scowl was slower to appear than the kunai in his hand. Instinctively, he did the best thing he could do in his current situation.

He attacked the demon.

The kunai had just left his hand when he felt a stinging pain on his neck and found himself completely paralyzed. He was able to smirk a little in satisfaction, though, at the helpless look on the brat's face as he watched death fly towards him.

And then, another kunai appeared out of nowhere, hit Mizuki's with a loud clang and deflected its course. Both weapons embedded on the wall behind the blond, one on each side of him.

There was a moment of complete silence during which Mizuki's thoughts turned even more murderous.

"Wow…" the demon then whispered in awe. "That was so cool, ANBU-san! Like, superfast!"

Two masked men entered Mizuki's field of vision, but there was no answer whatsoever from any one of them. The wonder in the kid's eyes didn't lessen in the slightest as he shrugged his shoulders with a smirk.

"Well, gotta go now. Naruto wanted to know about this meeting as soon as possible," the blond said to the two ANBU before turning to the confused Mizuki. "Well, thank you for the food, Sensei. And... for everything else. Bye!"

An instant later, the Shadow Clone disappeared with a puff of smoke, the Forbidden Scroll with him.

Mizuki could only curse the demon brat inside his mind once again, while his captors advanced towards him.

* * *

As soon as Naruto had blinked owlishly in front of him, Sarutobi Hiruzen, third Hokage of Konoha and God of Shinobi, knew that the Shadow Clone had been dispersed and that its memories had passed to its master. And the following grin marking the boy's features told him also what kind of memories they were.

"ANBU are awesome!" the blond cheered, looking around at the two masked figures standing at his side. "Mizuki-sensei practically didn't even have a chance!"

The Hokage puffed a cloud of smoke out, bringing the pipe down to his lap.

"I gather that all went according to plan, then?" he asked the boy, continuing after his affirmative nod. "Good. Now, while we wait for the ANBU to bring their report, what do you think of trying and explaining what happened since yesterday? I only know what you told me after you almost sneaked past my personal guard. That was impressive, by the way, especially considering the whole Village was looking for you at the moment." When he saw the boy just smile at the praise, evidently pleased, Sarutobi's face got more serious. "Now explain."

Naruto squirmed a little on his seat, glancing self-consciously at the masked men in the room, and it only took a look for the Hokage to order them out of his office.

"Bear," he called, and one of the two ANBU stopped for a moment. "Iruka-kun should be waiting outside. Tell him to handle Mizuki's report and whatever non-classified paper comes. The rest can wait. I don't want to be disturbed for the time being."

"Yes, Hokage-sama," the masked ninja nodded and then disappeared behind his fellow ANBU.

The next thankful look on the boy's face made Sarutobi smile back, but that serene expression on his old features could only last so long. Because then Naruto started talking.

It was like he had expected at first, the boy's words only confirming what he already thought. Mizuki had approached the boy after he had failed his Genin exam and had tricked him into stealing the Forbidden Scroll with the promise he would pass the 'special test' if he could learn one of the jutsu in there. He had told Naruto where to go to train with it, so as to find him immediately after making sure everybody was blaming the boy and no one was after him.

It was all very predictable, reassuringly so, the Hokage would think soon after, when the tail started derailing towards Demon Foxes _speaking_ with their host and magical spheres of chakra.

He could only stare back impassively at Naruto at the end of the report, his mind thinking furiously about the implications of what he had just been told.

Naruto was in speaking terms with the Kyuubi no Youko. That alone was mind-blowing. No one except Minato knew the exact functioning of the imprisoning seal, but Sarutobi had assumed that jinchuuriki and bijuu were two distinct beings not in contact with each other. The first eleven years of Naruto seemed enough proof of that. Instead, although there still was the possibility of the Seal having been altered, it seemed like the Demon had _consciously_ kept his distance from the boy, only to then reveal himself and the truth when his host had stumbled upon one of those _Materia_ just two days before. And speaking about those mysterious weapons...

"Ojiisan?"

Naruto's voice effectively pulled him away from his thoughts. He had stood up at some point of his reasoning and had walked over to the window of his office, his gaze lingering on the Hokage Monument. He sighed tiredly as he looked at his own carved face before turning around with a serious expression.

"Naruto," he started, "is the Kyuubi listening right now?"

The blond waited a moment before nodding.

"I need to ask him something," the Hokage said, not showing his hesitation. "I need to know why he contacted you."

Naruto tilted his head to one side and then spoke after a long second.

"To help, of course," the boy said simply, but it was clear he was quoting his inner prisoner.

"Help Naruto?" Sarutobi asked furrowing his brow.

"Myself, mostly, he says," Naruto related with a perplexed frown. "What does that mean?"

Another minute of silence followed before understanding descended on the young blond's features.

"Oh. He says he will die when I die, so he hopes he'll help with postponing that."

The Hokage nodded, having already guessed that much.

"He says he gave me a hand many times in the past by healing me and keeping me healthy despite _atrocious_ conditions," the boy resumed, making a face at the end. "What does 'atrocious' mean, Ojiisan?"

"It means bad, Naruto," Sarutobi answered quietly. "Very bad."

"Oh." The young blond shrugged. "It wasn't so _atrocious_."

That earned him a sad smile from the old man in front of him.

"Anyway," he continued, "he says he didn't have to talk to me to help me at the time, but he was the only one who could have possibly explained me what Materia was and how it worked, so he did."

"I understand," the Hokage said nodding, a little freaked out by the Demon... loquaciousness.

"He also wanted me to become a genin and finally train for real, and he even..." Here the boy stopped abruptly and scowled harshly, most probably at his inner tenant. "Hey! I'm not like that! That's cheating!"

He was quiet for the next few seconds while his brow furrowed even more.

"What does that mean, 'cheating is kinda the point of being a ninja?" he shouted angrily. "It's not! Not mine, anyway!" And a second later, "Not yet, but I will ace the next exam for sure! I even learnt the Bunshin no jutsu now!"

There was some more grumbling and then the boy went quiet again.

Sarutobi, who had watched the little show with some uneasiness, finally managed to attract the blond's attention.

"Uhm... what was all that about?"

Naruto scowled.

"The stupid fox wanted me to cheat at the exam!" he grunted. "But I said no."

"Care to explain?" the Hokage tried again, not much more informed than before.

"He knew the answers to the written test, but I didn't want him to tell them to me. It just wasn't fair," Naruto murmured grumpily. "He bothered me the WHOLE exam about it, and I swear I botched it because of all his nagging!"

The boy huffed irritably and continued pouting.

The Sandaime, on his part, couldn't keep the smile off his face.

"While I commend you for your great sense of rightness," he began with a soft voice, "it is true that as a ninja you will find yourself in situations where cheating is the only route available or simply the best one."

Naruto shifted a little on his seat.

"The Kyuubi says it is almost a job requirement," he said.

"Something like it," Sarutobi agreed.

The boy thought about it for a moment before evidently making up his mind.

"I don't like it," he said simply.

"And _that_," commented the Sandaime while his smile widened significantly, "says a lot of good things about you."

This last argument... it had been unimportant, almost silly, per se, but at the same time, it had told the old man something essential, something he needed to know.

Uzumaki Naruto was still Uzumaki Naruto.

Or at least, it seemed so. He had countless years of experience in the shinobi field to be reasonably sure that there was no deception in the boy's words and features. The Demon Fox didn't seem to be controlling or manipulating the young blond in the slightest. It was such a relief. The Hokage had to admit that dangerous thought had crossed his mind upon hearing Naruto's story, and although he still couldn't rule out the possibility, it surely seemed far, far less plausible now.

"Naruto," he started in a small voice, "how much... _in contact_ are you two?"

"Eh?" Naruto asked, blinking quizzically. "He just talks with me, Ojiisan."

"Is that so?" the Hokage insisted suspiciously.

The blond was about to say something else when he stopped, tilting his head to the side.

"The Kyuubi says that he sees what I see and hears what I hear," the orange-clad kid explained. "He's aware of my whole body as well, although not as if it was his own. He says it's a strange feeling." There was a short pause and then Naruto continued. "But my mind is my own and so it's my chakra. He doesn't have access to those."

Sarutobi nodded. It made sense, being mind and chakra – at least partly – spiritual. Jinchuuriki and bijuu shared the body, but nothing else.

"I have another question for him," the Sandaime suddenly said. The Kyuubi had seemed to be open about everything for now, and it didn't hurt to ask. "Why are you telling me all this? Aren't you afraid I'd do something about it?"

The orange-clad kid cleared his throat before quoting.

"You say that as if I had a choice on the matter, he says. Naruto is..." The blond stopped and pouted for a while before dutifully reporting what he was being told. "Naruto is a stubborn idiot. He wouldn't even listen to me when I tried to explain him why secrecy was the best route to take here." At this, the blond scowled harshly, letting the Hokage know what his own opinion on the matter was. "Besides, what could you do, old man?"

Sarutobi blinked a little at those words. Even through Naruto's voice, there was something strange in them.

"I could always take this... _Materia_ from him. I could even try to alter the seal in order to-" He stopped, his eyes widening. "And maybe that's exactly what you're aiming at," he whispered in understanding. "You hope that me tinkering with it will give you a chance to escape... something to exploit..." The Hokage narrowed his eyes. "Is that so?"

Naruto tilted his head to the side before speaking up again.

"Then why did I wait this long before speaking to Naruto?" the blond reported as the Sandaime frowned. "It would have made more sense for me to alert you immediately, if I thought that plan could work. I make it no mystery to anyone, let alone Naruto, that if I could get out of this damn body at all, I would do it at once. But I also think you idiots are not idiotic enough to risk that so easily."

At that point, the blond boy had joined the Sandaime in the frowning, but continued talking nonetheless.

"As for the Materia... Naruto is a ninja, or... or would have been, probably, if he had listened to me during the exam." Another scowl. "It would make no sense for you to take a weapon – and such a useful one to boot – away from him."

"Unless I deemed it dangerous for the Village," the Hokage pointed out. "Or for Naruto himself."

"Then," Naruto started, and it was almost like Sarutobi could hear the Kyuubi's smirk in the kid's voice, "I must probably be certain that you will _not_ deem it dangerous. Be my guest, Sandaime. Take the Materia and examine it to your heart's content. I have nothing to hide."

The old man thought it over for a short moment before extending his hand.

"May I see this so called Materia, Naruto?" he asked the boy directly, making it clear his conversation with the Demon was over.

The boy, a frown still on his face, quickly fished inside his pocket and produced a second later a plain round rock of small proportions.

"Here, Ojiisan."

The Sandaime took the sphere and examined it with all his senses. Well, he didn't taste it, really, but he did everything else. And the result was... nothing. The rock looked exactly that – just a simple rock. Grey, cool, coarse under his fingers... even with his chakra senses he couldn't find anything unusual.

"That's strange," he murmured. "Are you sure this is the Materia?"

The boy nodded, looking at him strangely.

"Hmmm..." Sarutobi continued to turn the thing over in his hands for a while before finally making up his mind. He gave it back to Naruto. "It seems a normal stone to me."

"Iruka didn't notice anything either," the blond admitted. "The fox says I'm the only one who can see it green, gleamy and all that. He says that it's because the Materia's chakra and mine are similar. Similar to _his_."

The Hokage nodded a little unconvinced, but he made a note to himself to send a Hyuuga to check it out and see what came up. He could ask Kakashi as well. Who knew if his Sharingan could-

And then the thought struck him.

Kakashi! Of course...

As Naruto yawed widely and blinked tears of tiredness out of his eyes, the wheels in the Sandaime's head started turning furiously.

'_Yes,_' he thought. '_It could work..._'

Sarutobi looked at the boy in front of him and could not see anything else but a hyperactive blond kid – now tired, though – and in need of acknowledgement. Not a demon, or a monster. Just a kid.

He chuckled a little.

"I've come to my decision, Naruto."

As he said that, he opened a drawer on his side of the desk and pulled out a Leaf head-protector. He then put it on the wooden surface under the boy's widening eyes.

"This hitai-ite is yours, genin Uzumaki Naruto. You earned it." Seeing as the blond didn't seem to have the intention of doing anything, the Hokage spoke up again. "Come on. Take it."

At that point, Naruto quickly reached out with his hand and closed his fingers around it.

"Really?" he asked excitedly before jumping high, pumping a fist in the air. "Hell yeah! I'm a Genin! I'm awesome!" He turned to the Sandaime. "_You_ are awesome, Ojiisan!"

Sarutobi laughed heartily at that and waited for the boy to put the head-protector on and eventually stop with his rightful celebration.

After he had dutifully informed the young genin about responsibility and privilege of being a shinobi of the Leaf, the Hokage swiftly directed the conversation to another interesting topic that they had yet to handle fully. What followed was a long and serious talk about the Kyuubi, the law of secrecy regarding him and Naruto himself, and what to do about it. Naruto admitted he didn't find the situation as bad as the Sandaime, but that he too preferred to keep the truth secret for the time being.

Noticing Naruto yawning again, Sarutobi put all those matters aside for the time being.

"Well, it is time for you to take a rest," he said gently. "Remember that tomorrow you will be taking the photo for the shinobi registration book. It will take place two floors underneath us."

"Yeah, yeah, you already told me, Ojiisan," Naruto said dismissingly, standing up and stretching contentedly. "I won't be late."

Sarutobi walked with him to the doors and opened them.

"I wasn't worried about that," he said. "More about-"

"Naruto!"

Iruka's voice interrupted them from the far corner of the room, where the chuunin was sitting at a desk and managing files and papers. He quickly abandoned them, though, in order to approach the blond boy.

"Naruto, are you..." the man started only to trail off at the sight of the head-protector, "wearing a hitai-ite?!"

"Yeah!" the young ninja cheered. "I'm a genin now, Sensei!"

At Iruka's confused, although happy, look, the Hokage decided to speak up.

"You have already read the report, haven't you, Iruka-kun?" he asked with a smile. "And don't you agree with me that what Naruto did, given the situation, was deserving of the title of genin?"

"Yeah!" Naruto nodded his head repeatedly. "I totally owned Mizuki-baka! Plus, I learned a supercool new jutsu, together with the Bunshin no jutsu! Take a look!"

And that said, he scrunched up his face in concentration and performed the familiar hand-seals. Soon enough, the whole room was packed full of small excited genin laughing and jumping excitedly around.

Iruka boggled at that but recovered as soon as he noticed how some of the incorporeal clones were making faces at the Hokage's back. After some initial difficulty, the chuunin managed to find the real Naruto and swat him on the head. He then proceeded to give him an earful under the amused look of the Sandaime.

A contented sigh escaped Sarutobi's lips as he watched the two young shinobi walk to the door and out of sight, Iruka chiding Naruto and Naruto shrugging at him as they went.

"Bear," the Hokage called. "Keep me up to date about Mizuki's situation. I want to know if there's anything else other than greediness behind what happened."

"Yes, Hokage-sama," was the prompt reply.

The old man started going back to his office but stopped after a couple of steps.

"And, please, get rid of all these Bunshin," he said tiredly. "All this orange is giving me a head-ache."

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

* * *

When Umino Iruka and Uzumaki Naruto exited the Hokage tower, the chuunin was still reprimanding the younger ninja with a lecturing tone. The genin could have probably avoided that if he hadn't insisted so much about the fairness of free ramen in this situation. The older man was evidently of a different opinion, and he made sure to list all the reasons why to his young charge.

"And then, making faces at the Hokage!" Iruka was saying exasperatedly. "What possessed you to do something like that is really beyond me. It's not polite to do that to anyone, but he is the leader of the Village and the most respected person in Konoha. It's even your dream to be in his place some day! So doing that was really... are you even listening to me?"

Naruto had stopped just outside the tower and had been left slightly behind by Iruka who had kept on walking. His eyes seemed rooted to the tall building in front of him, though his eyes wandered up and down it.

"Naruto?"

"Huh?" The boy spun around to face the chuunin. "Sorry, what were you saying?"

Iruka rolled his eyes at his often inattentive student. "Nothing," he said eventually, sighing. "Come on. I'll buy you ramen."

But Naruto was no longer listening to him. Again. His eyes had gone back to the tower and he was now blinking them repeatedly.

"What's the matter, Naruto?" Iruka asked with his brow furrowed. He then nudged him on the side, smiling slightly. "Still green spots in your vision?"

"Green spots?" the genin asked confusedly before remembering their conversation on the Hokage Monument.

Very slowly, a large grin appeared on Naruto's face as well.

"You can say that."

There was silence for the next few seconds, then Naruto started walking again.

"So, you mentioned ramen, right?"

Iruka snorted.

"You have good ears when you want to."

While the two shinobi made their way towards Ichiraku ramen stand, the Kyuubi no Youko lazily stretched his limbs.

'_You saw it, didn't you?_' he whispered amusedly.

There was no evident answer on Naruto's part, but as far as the Demon was concerned, there was no need.

Author's notes – This was the third chapter. I hope you liked it. Till next time.

Uncle Stojil


	5. Chapter 4

Warning – This is unbetaed. Feel free to point out all the mistakes you see.

* * *

Chapter 4

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto strolled casually down one of the many hallways of the Hokage tower. He had already taken the photo for the shinobi registration book – the second, _proper_ one according to Ojiisan – and could now concentrate his attention on what had been his top priority since the evening before.

After a failed attempt in the dangerously crowded fourth floor, the young boy, recently appointed genin by the Sandaime himself, had decided to pass to the fifth one and give his plan a try from there. Conveniently enough, in this new floor he had yet to encounter a single person, not considering, of course, the small brat following him.

Naruto huffed in annoyance. Until that moment, he had tried to ignore the boy who said to be the old man's grandson, in order to avoid attracting attention on himself, but now that the hallway was desert, he decided he had had enough.

"Stop following me!" he shouted turning around and pointing. "And you aren't fooling anyone with that!"

The Hokage's grandson got out of his cover with a smirk. "Impressive to see through my Cloak of Invisibility Technique."

Naruto sweatdropped. "You were just hiding behind a wallpaper."

"This is a highly valuable disguise jutsu!" the boy protested and the genin snorted.

"Yeah, just like stalking and checking on me from a corner is the proper spying method," the blond said. "Please…"

"It's easy for you to criticize…" the old man's grandson grumbled looking at the hitai-ite on the other's forehead. "You're already a ninja! I have yet to enter the Academy!"

"Bah! At your age I was already running circles around the ANBU chasing me!" Naruto said simply. "The Academy didn't teach me anything that I hadn't already known about sneakiness!"

The boy's eyes widened like disks at that. "Really?" he asked with awe on his face before a smirk came back to his lips. "Hey, I'll make you my boss!" he shouted then. "And in exchange… please teach me the Oiroke no jutsu which you defeated gramps with!"

Naruto blinked his eyes a couple of times. "Boss?" When the boy just nodded, the blond thought it over for a moment before accepting. "Alright," he said. "You're my underling, now."

At that point, the Kyuubi decided that he had stayed quiet long enough.

'_What are you doing?_'

As the small boy cheered, Naruto walked up to the nearby window and started opening it.

'_What do you mean?_' he asked mentally like he had practiced the whole morning. He stuck his head out to the cool, autumnal air and looked around. "Perfect…" he murmured after spotting what he was looking for.

'_We're here to get the Materia you finally sensed yesterday,_' the bijuu reminded him. '_There's no time for babysitting idiots. I've already got one…_'

It took him a second but the genin finally got it. "Hey!" he protested out loud.

"Yes, boss?" the Sandaime's grandson asked eagerly from behind him.

"Yes, ah, uhm," Naruto hesitated, going back inside. "Stay quiet for a moment."

The boy frowned slightly but did as he was told.

'_Would you stop bothering me at a time like this?_' the blond genin said eventually, resuming his internal conversation with his tenant. '_I'm still not very good at this speaking-but-not-quite thing._'

From inside his cage, the Demon Fox rolled his eyes. '_How hard can it be?_'

Naruto grumbled something as he walked to the third window down the hall. '_It's confusing._'

'_Whatever,_' the Kyuubi snorted. '_Just get that Materia already._'

'_As you can see,_' the young ninja said while opening the window, '_I'm working on it._'

"Okay," he eventually said out loud, turning to the old man's grandson. "Uhm… what's your name again?"

"I'm Konohamaru," the boy replied proudly.

"Okay Konohamaru, the first assignment I give you is... go to that end of the hall and check out for anyone coming," Naruto ordered before nodding to the other side. "He will take care of the other end."

He had just uttered the words when, after a fast hand-seal, a Kage Bunshin appeared beside him.

"I have to take something important out there," the genin continued, pointing at the open window. "If anyone comes just let me know and try to buy me a little time. You're allowed to use any means possible to do that, okay?" the genin said, starting to enjoy this little game.

"Right away, boss!" the Shadow clone barked obediently, moving to get in position.

After goggling at the copy for a long second, Konohamaru mirrored him and strolled down the hallway.

"Okay," Naruto then said rubbing his hands together. "Time to get a new Materia."

Taking a deep breath, the young genin approached the window and carefully put a foot outside and on the tiny ledge of the fifth floor. When the second leg joined the first together with his whole body, he slowly started to side-step his way to the left, his back to the building and his hands gripping whatever fingerhold they could find. Underneath him, people went about their business, entering and exiting the Hokage tower without glancing upwards at the boy performing his balancing act on the ledge.

After a couple of feet and a damn-near fall that would have probably cost him his life, Naruto finally reached the end of the ledge and, luckily enough, the perfect spot. He carefully moved his left hand from the building to wipe at his sweating face. Wind pushed against him as he let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding.

When the day before he had seen the 'green spot' from down below, after sensing its presence from the Hokage's office, Naruto didn't think it would have been this difficult to get to it. The Materia looked stuck in the front of the building, precisely in between the fourth and the fifth row of the large windows that looked on the street. His initial plan had been to try and get it from the fourth floor but that proved impossible because of all the people walking up and down those hallways. The fifth floor, instead, had looked almost desert, thus definitely the best route to take.

Now though, Naruto wasn't so sure of that.

The metal railing he had taken as point of reference was below and a few inches to his left, which meant the Materia he had seen had to be exactly under him. He could feel the by now familiar pull towards it as he slowly crouched down as much as he could, grazing his back against the building and panting a little in anxiousness. After a few tries, he was finally able to close his fingers around one of the cool bars of the railing and started gripping it viciously, testing its solidity and stability.

He took a couple of deep, encouraging breaths after that, and before he could change his mind, jumped down from the relative security of his ledge while twisting his body around. He immediately took hold of a metal bar with his other hand and then managed to get his feet together and find the ledge of the fourth floor. Naruto could then exhale in relief, finally finding himself in a balanced position, while the Kyuubi, who until that moment had refrained from speaking to his host to not disrupt his concentration, decided to put his two cents in.

'_And _this_,_' he started with a lot of emphasis on the last word, '_is exactly why I told you to use a Kage Bunshin to do it._'

Naruto waited for his heart to calm down before eventually answering, although mentally.

'_It was fun,_' the blond said simply, looking to his right.

And there it was – the green sphere he had spotted from the street below, almost inset into the wall. His right hand left the railing for a moment and traveled to the warm Materia, brushing it slowly. The young genin grinned as the slight sensation of being about to remember something instilled in his mind before disappearing when he retreated his fingers.

The next few minutes were completely dedicated to chisel around the object with a kunai, but unlike the Materia stuck to the Hokage Monument, this one didn't come off easily at all. After a lot of effort though, Naruto managed to remove a big chunk of stonework from the building and with it the green sphere still embedded in it. He grimaced a little at the damage he had caused to the Hokage tower but figured no one could notice it from the street below so it was okay.

He had just put the large rock in his jumpsuit's pocket, trying to make it fit in completely despite its size, when, after sniffing the air, he froze. When he eventually turned around, very slowly, he found two male ninja watching him from the large window on his left. One of them had a short, black beard and was looking at him curiously while smoking a cigarette. He leaned comfortably against the windowsill and tilted his head to the side as if puzzled.

"What do you think he's doing?" he asked in a deep voice.

The other ninja was actually silver-haired and was currently crouched down on the ledge of the fourth floor, just outside the large window. His long arms were dangling almost lazily over the edge, giving the impression that he was bored out of his mind. The impression was also alighted by the half-lidded eye looking at him, the one not hidden by a black mask.

"I don't know," he said with disinterest. "But I hear he's quite the troublemaker, so he's probably just making trouble."

"Hmmm," the first murmured with a frown. "Removing a chunk of tower doesn't seem much of a prank to me."

The masked shinobi shrugged slowly. "Who knows what youngsters think these days."

"Still… did you see how he climbed down here?" the bearded ninja retorted and the other nodded.

"Uh-uh. That was mildly impressive for a fresh genin." He then waved dismissingly with his hand. "He has the awareness of a deaf mole, though. It took him _so long_ to finally pick up our scent and notice us."

"In his defense, the wind wasn't in his favor," the smoking shinobi reasoned before adding as an afterthought, "…and we're Jounin." He seemed to reflect for a moment before speaking up again. "I think I want him in my Team."

The masked man snorted. "As if our preferences are ever taken into consideration when it comes to assigning a genin team." The man nodded grimly. "God knows if I know that…"

"Oh?" A mocking-innocent expression appeared on the bearded ninja's face. "Did I ever mentioned my father to you? You probably know him by the name 'Hokage'."

The other shinobi just chuckled. "I may have heard about him," he said with a smile – or at least what Naruto thought was a smile – behind that mask of his. "Good luck with the brat, then."

After that, both men turned completely to face the blond who they had pretty much ignored in favor of their little conversation. Naruto who had stayed uncharacteristically quiet until that moment, finally decided to speak up.

"I need your window," he said brightly, right as he jumped on it. The two moved away to give him space and the bearded one put a firm hand on his shoulder to steady him. Naruto climbed down after a moment and landed on the busy fourth floor, a good dozen of eyes immediately pointing on him. He shrugged unconcerned. He had already been caught anyway.

The small genin turned around to look at the two ninja. Both of them had a jounin vest, and they looked like they were enjoying the situation. Naruto wondered for a moment if he had a chance to slip away, but then decided against it. The odds of that were very slim. Sure, he had escaped jounin and ANBU in the past, but he mostly had some kind of advantage when he did, be that a head-start or the aide of confusion his pranks often provided him. This time he had none.

He would stay and see what happened, then. It wasn't like he had done anything really bad, after all. What was a small hole in the Hokage tower's stonework, anyway?

"Thank you for opening that for me," Naruto eventually said with nonchalance, pointing at the window. "I was already dreading the wall-climb to the fifth floor."

The masked shinobi smiled sweetly. "I can imagine. That rock must really weigh a lot."

Naruto laughed nervously at that. "Yeah, a little."

"I could carry it for you," the silver-haired man pressed on, chuckling amiably. "I'm a jounin so I'm pretty strong."

"Uh, ah, don't worry about it," the blond boy said quickly, scratching the back of his head. "I'm a genin so I'm pretty strong too." He looked at him and at the other ninja smiling amusedly. "Well, time to go now! Bye!" And he dashed down the hallway, feeling relieved when he noticed the two weren't chasing after him.

He disappeared around a corner, dodging a young employee as he went.

Sarutobi Asuma put out his cigarette and threw it inside the nearby ashtray. "Curious kid," he murmured after a few seconds of silent. "You heard about what happened with the Academy teacher?"

Hatake Kakashi nodded as he leaned against the wall. "I was one of the guards who finally caught him when he almost sneaked up to the Hokage."

"And I was one of the ninja trying to track him down and failing. There was Inuzuka Tsume with me most of the time." Asuma chuckled quietly. "She curses worse than a sailor when she's annoyed at herself."

Even Kakashi smiled a little. "I've been in enough missions with her to know that very well."

"Come on," the bearded jounin eventually said, starting to walk away. "Let's go to the meeting. I want to see if I can coax the Hokage into putting Naruto on my team."

The masked ninja lazily peeled himself off the wall. "Don't get your hopes high."

Something in the jounin's tone made Asuma turn an inquisitive face to him. "You know something I don't?"

"Maybe."

The man's gaze became intent in seeing Kakashi's carefully blank expression. "Does that have something to do with why you insisted a little on that chunk of rock?"

Silence was all the answer he got.

"Oh man… I thought that was just you having fun in giving a kid a hard time! Now, though…" Asuma looked pensive as he kept on walking down the hall. "Interesting…"

They were quiet all the way up to the team-assignment meeting.

* * *

Naruto's heartbeat had slowed down to normal by the time the boy had reached the fifth floor through the flight of stairs. He walked down the desert hallways while thinking about what happened and he soon found himself approaching his confused Shadow clone.

"What are you doing here?" the Kage Bunshin asked him and Naruto shrugged.

"I got a little help and re-entered the building from the fourth floor."

The clone shrugged as well before leaning forward eagerly. "Did you get it, though?"

Naruto flashed a smile. "I did."

"Cool!"

"How were things up here?" the original questioned. "Anything to report?"

"No, sir," the Kage Bunshin barked dutifully, saluting. "No one entered the perimeter."

The young blond raised his eyebrows before pointing over his underling's shoulders. "What about that man over there?"

The Shadow clone turned around only to curse in seeing Konohamaru tossing about while in a ninja's firm grip.

"Let go of me!" the boy was shouting in the meantime while he struggled to free himself, but the man holding him didn't seem fazed by his efforts.

"Come on, young master," he said instead, properly adjusting his dark glasses. "We already wasted a lot of time and we have yet to finish this morning lesson."

"I don't want to, Ebisu-sensei!" the Hokage's grandson complained loudly, awkwardly trying to kick the ninja from his difficult position. "Put me down!"

"Hey!" Naruto shouted advancing with his Shadow clone. "Let him go!"

Ebisu finally took notice of Naruto's presence and scowled at him… well, them…

"Stay away from the honorable grandson, Naruto," the man snarled, shifting his eyes from clone to original and back. "I don't want him to be influenced by the likes of you!"

Both Narutos scowled back at him before turning to each other. Two matching grins appeared on their faces and they took a step forward.

Ebisu smirked. "Heh. Do you think you can take me on?" he said derisively, crouching down to a fighting position when one of two blonds raised his hands to form a seal. "I'm an elite tutor, not an Academy brat!"

In answer, Naruto shouted only one word.

"Kawarimi!"

A second later, Ebisu blinked his eyes owlishly as he found himself holding the orange-clad genin instead of the Hokage's grandson. The young blond in his grasp smiled brightly at him.

"Peek-a-boo!"

Ebisu glanced up long enough to see that the other Naruto, presumably the original, was running away with the young master. He growled at that and tried to toss what must have been a Shadow clone away. He failed, though, as the copy took hold of his arms and refused to let go. The man tried to slam him against the wall, but the boy was as slippery as oil as he managed to wrap himself around his midsection first and his back then.

He only lasted a dozen more seconds before finally being dispelled by a blow to the head, but by the time Ebisu had reached the end of the hallways and the flight of stairs, the honorable grandson was nowhere to be seen.

"Damn you!" he cursed as he ran down the stairs.

* * *

They had just reached the woods when Naruto finally stopped. Konohamaru slumped immediately on the soft ground, panting and wheezing after their wild run.

"This is…" he started, wincing at the burning sensation in his lungs but smiling all the same. "This is the first time… I… I shake Ebisu-sensei off… ever…"

"Really?" Naruto asked curiously, barely a little winded.

"Yeah… I'm only able… to escape him when… I get him seriously distracted…" Konohamaru admitted slowly. "And even then… I have minutes of lead on him… he finds me almost immediately…" The boy laughed breathlessly. "This time… we had him hot on our heels… for nearly half an hour… and we were still able to… get rid of him!" He grinned wildly. "You're great, boss!"

"Hmmm," the blond genin murmured, blinking his eyes repeatedly. "It's the same for me and Iruka-sensei. He's always the one to find me. Maybe it's a teacher-student related thing…" He looked thoughtful for a moment while the Hokage's grandson caught his breath. "We may be onto something here."

Konohamaru just shrugged, not really caring about that.

"Oh, right!" Naruto's face perked up suddenly as if he had just remembered something. "We went through a lot of trouble, but I got _this_!"

As Naruto's hand shoot out of the jumpsuit's pocket, Konohamaru's face dropped.

"That 'something important' you had to take was this?!" he asked disbelievingly. "A rock?"

"Not just a rock! You see?" Naruto said excitedly while pointing at the green sphere glaring out of the big, grey stone. He gave up after a short moment when he remembered he alone could see its quite flashy color.

"I don't see anything…" the boy replied skeptically and Naruto huffed.

"Nevermind." He looked around before walking up to a clearing nearby. "Come on. I'll teach you the Oiroke no jutsu while I clean up this thing."

"Yes!" Konohamaru cheered, pumping his fist up in the air.

As he took a seat on a comfortable log and proceeded to chisel off all the stonework surrounding the Materia, Naruto started explaining the basis of his own invented jutsu, Konohamaru hanging on his every word. He soon had the boy practicing, though, because just like he learnt by trial and error, the blond genin found himself _teaching_ the same way.

Konohamaru made slow but steady progress and for the first time Naruto finally got a vague estimation of how much more chakra he had in respect to other kids. The estimation could be surmised by 'loads more'. Konohamaru had to stop three timesbecause of exhaustion! Three times! And although the Hokage's son was a few years younger than him and there was the possibility that he had smaller than normal chakra reserves for his age, Naruto could remember clearly the _whole_ _hours_ – consecutive he might add – spent trying and failing to learn whatever justu he had to learn. And those memories dated back up to when he first started going to the Academy, as in to say pretty much Konohamaru's age.

The whole matter was really worth going into in the future.

Those periods of down time weren't all that bad, though. While Naruto chiseled around the Materia, Konohamaru explained the reason why he always went after his grandfather. To Naruto, it almost seemed like listening to himself when the boy spoke about acknowledgement and being Hokage, and he found himself spurring him on in his own way. He also decided to give him a few tips about 'sneakiness', as he called it, while Konohamaru resumed with his training.

By the time Naruto had finished polishing the green stone, the Hokage's grandson had the jutsu pretty much down.

"That's it, more or less," the young blond complimented with a grin. "Just practice a little on the nipples and it'll be perfect."

"Really?" Konohamaru asked excitedly, transforming back to normal.

Naruto nodded. "Yep."

"Hey!" The boy's attention had suddenly shifted to his boss' hands. "You made a sphere out of that chunk of stone! You're pretty good."

"I didn't-" The genin huffed in annoyance. "There was already a sphere inside that chunk of stone."

The Hokage's grandson looked skeptical. "Really?"

"Yeah, really." Naruto bit his lip before finally making up his mind. "Just wait and see, okay? I'll show you something cool!"

As he said those words, the blond stepped away from Konohamaru and turned to a fairly large boulder nearby. With a feeling of excitement settling in the pit of his stomach, Naruto slowly raised his hand and called forth the power within the sphere like the Kyuubi had told him for the Lightning Materia. Green light rose as usual around him just as a big block of ice quickly formed around the target. There was a moment in which Naruto was left looking on in disappointment, right before the ice shattered loudly and… the boulder shattered with it.

Silence descended upon the clearing as Naruto and Konohamaru watched astonished the frosted pieces of rock falling apart, cut up like by a sharp sword. They had just stopped moving when Konohamaru finally spoke up.

"That was awesome, boss!" he shouted excitedly, turning to the blond with wide eyes. "What a great ninjutsu! I bet even grandpa would be impressed by it!"

"Yeah," Naruto agreed, laughing and slowly recomposing himself. "I bet he would."

"Was it that stone?" the boy wanted to know, staring at the sphere in the blond's hands.

Naruto examined the Materia as well. It was, strangely enough, _warm_ under his fingers despite it obviously being Ice based, and there were what seemed to be tiny crystals floating under its green surface.

"What is it?" Konohamaru asked eagerly but before the genin could answer, the Kyuubi growled dangerously.

'_Naruto,_' he warned menacingly, '_it was one thing to reveal the truth to the Hokage, but try and don't make this story a public secret, would you?_'

'_Yeah, yeah, I know,_' the blond thought back, rolling his eyes. '_It's for my own good, don't want people to think I'm so connected to the Kyuubi, Materia will be the ace up my sleeve and blah, blah blah..._'

'_I know you, Naruto. Better than yourself, probably,_' the bijuu said annoyed at his mocking. '_And you were _definitely_ going to blurt out everything!_'

'_I was not!_' the genin replied outrageously right as Konohamaru asked, "Boss?"

The Kyuubi quieted down at that but not before letting his host know with a snort what he thought about his last words. Naruto grumbled something under his breath and then focused on the boy in front of him.

"Sorry, err…" He hesitated for a moment, looking for a seamless change of topic, when it literally dropped from the branch of a nearby tree in the form of Ebisu.

"Last piece of advice about sneakiness," the young blond said wisely. "Don't stay in the same place too long when hiding, unless you're completely sure you won't be discovered there. And…" he added as an afterthought, "wherever you are, refrain from using loud and flashy jutsu. They tend to give your position away."

"I've finally found you!" the man shouted, glaring at the orange-clad ninja. "It's been tougher than I thought, I'll give you that. Now I understand why accomplished shinobi find it so hard to catch you after one of your pranks."

Naruto found himself smiling at the roundabout praise.

"Yeah!" he cheered. "I'm that awesome!"

"But playtime is over," the man continued coldly. "Let's go home, young master."

"No!" Konohamaru refused. "I'm going to defeat that old geezer and get the Hokage title! So don't get in my way!"

While Ebisu and his student argued, Naruto fingered the new Materia in his palm before putting it in his pocket. This wasn't his fight. Not yet, anyway.

"Oiroke no jutsu!"

The genin watched with raised eyebrows the effect Konohamaru's henged body had on his teacher and could only sweatdrop as the man, with a perverted face, went on and on about how such a dirty trick couldn't possibly work on him. What he then said about the blond and about becoming Hokage was the last straw. Without really thinking about it, Naruto took a step forward and formed a seal.

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" he shouted, and fifteen Shadow clones appeared in front of him, much to the Kyuubi's shock.

'_What the hell!?_' the bijuu thought, dumbfounded. He then proceeded to observe in astonished silence as his host managed to knock out the enemy ninja with what he called his Harem no jutsu.

The Demon Fox remained quiet for quite a while as he eventually settled down to wait for the idiot to finish his little motivational speech and finally move away. He spoke up after that, though, voice as deceivingly sweet as he could possibly master.

'_Naruto?_'

The boy was still smiling like an idiot as he walked towards the actual Village with his hands behind his head.

'_Yeah?_'

The Kyuubi took a deep breath.

'_HOW MANY FUCKING CLONES CAN YOU DO?_'

Naruto's ears rang for as long as it took him to demonstrate.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto was frowning slightly as he finally walked up to the shop counter near the door, a load of long-range weapons held carefully against his chest. He had his gaze low, both in order not to trip with the stands on his way and most of all to avoid meeting the harsh gaze of the owner.

Naruto had always hated shopping. And it was fairly obvious as to why.

When he eventually looked up upon reaching the counter and dropped his purchases on it, he could see there was a nasty scowl on the man's features.

"Let's see…" the shop-owner said slowly, finally dropping his eyes to the merchandise. "A standard set of kunai, one of shuriken and two rolls of Konoha wire." He sneered. "It's 7000 ryo."

"7000?!" Naruto burst out at once. "It's not possible. The price tags said-"

"I just changed them," the man interrupted him with a smirk. "Now pay, or get lost."

The young blond opened his mouth to reply but forcefully shut it again. This wasn't going to take him anywhere. He held the man's gaze for a long moment, finding some satisfaction in seeing him squirming a little, before turning around.

"You can keep your damn stuff," he said, coming to a decision. "It's not like I really needed it, anyway."

"Get out of my shop, then!" the owner shouted after him but he didn't bother with a reply. As he left the shop, though, he noticed someone staring at him from the nearby sword-sector.

Uchiha Sasuke.

"Teme," Naruto murmured blandly, turning slightly to face him.

"Dobe," was the predictable answer he received, but he couldn't help but growl at it.

From what Naruto could remember, since the first time he'd seen him, the only person Uchiha Sasuke ever greeted was him. Fellow students, Academy sensei, important ninja occasionally teaching lessons... Uchiha Sasuke never ever deigned them of a greeting. The only way they knew he was even aware of their presence was the piercing, dark gaze shifting to them with various degrees of intensity and attention. The dark-haired boy pretty much ignored everyone, aside for Academy assignment or training, but not him. And although it was only right to say that it was also the result of provoking, some times Naruto didn't have to go out on a limb _at all_ to get a reaction.

The young blond had always been puzzled by that. He guessed he should have felt honored to be worth of such consideration, but probably not, considering the greeting he received from the _Uchiha genius_ was always an insult and generally, the words reserved to him were far from polite or friendly. But he couldn't help but wonder about it.

Sasuke looked at him for a long moment before glancing at the shop-owner. Immediately, the man started bowing profusely in his direction.

"Oh, Uchiha-san, I didn't see you enter," he said apologetically. "Can I help you in any way? Were you looking for something in particular?"

Naruto looked at the man in disgust before stepping outside, a damn stinging sensation somewhere behind his eyes. He swallowed hard and smiled grimly after a long second.

At least, the man would get what he deserved soon.

* * *

Uchiha Sasuke didn't exactly know why he followed the Dobe outside. Maybe it was because he had no intention of buying anything since the beginning, or because he hadn't liked what the shop-owner had done. But most probably, he eventually decided, it was because he was curious.

Exiting the store, Sasuke's eyes settled down once again upon Uzumaki Naruto and the Leaf head-protector he wasn't supposed to have. When he found himself next to him, expressionless as always, he struggled not to stare obviously at it while the blond faced him with surprise.

"What do you want?" the Dobe growled quietly.

The dark-haired boy shrugged, now looking forward again. "I never liked that guy either."

And it was true. The shop-owner always threw himself all over him like some kind of fangirl. He was already repulsed by _those_, and they weren't old men with moustache and scars. Usually.

"It's that guy that doesn't like me, more like it," Naruto replied, snorting. Then his grin flashed just like his blue eyes. "And I guess he will like me even less now."

At those words, the sound of something crashing and clashing resonated from inside the shop, followed by an angry shout. Sasuke turned inquisitively towards the ruckus.

"What did you do?" he asked.

"Me? I did nothing," Naruto answered innocently, and something in his voice made the Uchiha turn to him in time to see the seal for the Henge no jutsu. When the smoke finally cleared, there was a perfect copy of himself in front of him, albeit a grinning one. "You did."

The door of the shop suddenly burst open and another Sasuke came out in a hurry. Behind him, another one could only take a step beyond the threshold before what looked like a mallet came flying to his head, dispelling it. A second later, the shop owner appeared on the doorway, his head covered in white feathers and his eyes furious. There was also a large, orange slimy-thing staining his chest and slowly dripping down his stomach and onto his shoes.

"You little brat!" the man was shouting. "I know it's just you henged as Uchiha-san! Wait up!"

Sasuke scowled, turning to the Dobe only to see him mimicking his exact expression.

"Naruto!" The fake Uchiha growled dangerously, anticipating him. "Drop the Henge!"

The real Sasuke glared. "You drop it, idiot! If you don't-"

His threat was never voiced, though, for he had to jump away to dodge the kunai thrown at him by the shop-owner. He scowled at the offender for a moment before deciding that Naruto was really the one to blame for this. Seeing him running away, he shot after him, murderous thoughts filling his mind.

The chase lasted for about ten minutes. They had already shaken off the man after five, but the Dobe still impersonating him had continued to run away. And he didn't just _run_, of course. He hid and hindered, he backpedaled and confused, he feinted and distracted. Sasuke was forced to lose precious seconds every time one of those strange, seemingly corporeal clones appeared out of nowhere and seemed to… _swap_ with the original. After deciding whom to follow, he was left a tiny bit more behind. After ten minutes, Sasuke had lost him.

He was really surprised, impressed and angry. He found himself in a small alley in the commercial district, a dead end with no doors or openings, while the copy of himself he had been following was nowhere to be seen. He looked around with narrowed eyes before loudly kicking a trash can on the side, knocking it over and sending the twisted bits of metal it contained to the ground.

"Eh eh, I win!"

The voice scared the shit out of him. Sasuke startled badly even as he twirled around as fast as he could, a kunai already in his hand. In front of him, the Dobe, now back to his normal appearance, was grinning victoriously.

The grin disappeared as soon as Sasuke had grabbed him from the jumpsuit and tossed him in the air.

"Hey!" the blond shouted just as he dropped on another trash can and… dispelled.

The young Uchiha was left staring at where the clone had disappeared until the familiar voice of the Dobe resonated again in the alley.

"That wasn't very nice," this new Naruto said from behind him.

Sasuke turned to him suddenly feeling very calm, almost detached. He watched the grin on the other's face and asked, "What's this technique?"

"It's awesome, isn't it?" the blond cheered. "It's called Kage Bunshin no jutsu and it's a forbidden technique. I learnt it some days ago and I already love it! It requires loads of chakra but I have it in spades!"

The Uchiha raised an eyebrow at that but didn't comment. There was silence for a moment before he spoke up.

"What happened in that shop?" he asked, feeling like he had missed something. He had observed the Dobe for some time as he checked out kunai and shuriken and tried to avoid the owner's gaze. He had also seen the changes in his features when he had brought the goods to the counter and had been treated like that. It had been… strange. Almost like he had hoped against hope until the very last moment and was then left disappointed and sad.

As if to confirm his thoughts, the blond's grin faltered for a moment before coming back full force.

"I gave that bastard a lesson!" he said. "Did you see what an idiot he looked with those feathers plastered to his head?"

"I meant before that," Sasuke insisted. "What was that ridiculous price about?"

Naruto stopped and looked away, his smile turning sad all of a sudden. "I had thought that once a genin, they wouldn't have continued to… that they would have acknowledged me." The boy sighed a little before grinning widely again. "But I guess it's still too early, right? I'll just have to try harder!"

Sasuke was slightly curious about what the Dobe was talking about, but he had finally managed to get to the topic he was really interested into so he decided to jump straight to it.

"You're a genin?" he asked skeptically.

"Of course I am!" the blond boasted pointing at his hitai-ite. "Are you blind, Teme?"

"But you failed the exam, _Dobe_," the Uchiha retorted, putting much emphasis on the last word. "You weren't able to perform a single effective Bunshin."

"As you could see, I can now," Naruto said angrily. "And I passed a special test which… which I can't really talk about."

Sasuke thought about it for a moment before eventually deciding that he believed him. Not even Naruto could be so stupid to wear a fake head-protector knowing the consequences, and he _did_ demonstrate he could perform clones, after all, although not the basic kind taught at the Academy. Of course, this _special test_ he couldn't talk about smelled fishy, but…

The young Uchiha turned away. His curiosity hadn't been sated completely, but he couldn't show he was so interested to the idiot. He started walking out of the alley.

"Whatever, Dobe" he said dismissingly. "I still need to buy some things, and so do you, I believe."

Naruto scowled before shrugging. "Well, you're almost right. It's not exactly me that has to buy something."

Sasuke glanced back curiously. "You're a clone?" The blond nodded his head and the Uchiha smirked. "Really? Then you won't mind if I do… this!"

As he uttered the last word, he was already upon the Dobe who, taken by surprised, could only dodge the left kick before taking the next punch right in the face. A second later, the blond had disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving behind only a smug Sasuke. The dark-haired boy looked around for a moment before dusting himself off and walking out of the alley, hands in his pockets and a satisfied smile on his face.

* * *

Naruto looked on the proceeding from atop a nearby roof, his position hidden behind a grey chimney. He blinked as the memories of the just dispelled Kage Bunshin flowed in his mind, informing him of the strange conversation with the Uchiha.

"That Teme," he whispered with a frown. "That was completely uncalled for."

He watched as the boy disappeared amidst the passersby down the street before jumping down to the alley. He walked up to the toppled trash can and straightened it up, idly noticing it was full of broken pieces of iron and other metals.

'_Damn,_' he told the Kyuubi quietly. '_Sasuke surely is fast…_'

'_Only now you noticed?_' the Demon asked him derisively. '_He kicked your ass all the time at the Academy._'

'_He didn't!_'

'_Yeah, right,_' the bijuu snorted. '_I must have imagined things, then. Anyway, that's nothing training can't fix and your Kage Bunshin are doing just that in the forest as we speak._'

The Kyuubi had insisted upon it immediately after the boy had demonstrated he could create hundreds of clones. The Demon had been left stunned. Initially he had thought the idiot just possessed a large quantity of chakra, incredible if you considered his age, but not something a normal jounin would brag about. Instead, it turned out that Naruto was, simply put, a chakra monster, easily on Kage level from that point of view. It had been a pleasing surprise for both of them – the idiot could not stop smiling when he told him that – but it was important to put it to good use as soon as possible, and Kage Bunshin training was probably the best way to do that.

'_From the memories I'm getting,_' the genin said with a grin, '_they're really going wild over there. I'll be faster than Sasuke in no time!_'

'_Instead,_' the bijuu resumed, refraining from rolling his eyes,'_you have something he will never have, no matter how or how much he trains._'

Naruto blinked owlishly at that. '_You?_'

'_I was mainly talking about Materia, but yes, me as well,_' the Kyuubi confirmed while Naruto pulled out his two spheres from his pockets. '_And if you stop wasting time, today you can take another step towards using it – and me – properly._'

'_I wasn't wasting time,_' the young blond protested. '_There was no holster good enough to fit your suggestion in that bastard's shop! And I could use some new kunai and shuriken now that I'm a genin. Mine are falling to pieces!_'

'_But they're not as important!_' the Demon shouted. '_How many times do I need to tell you? Our priority now is to find a good holster to put our Materia into. What good is being able to perform jutsu without using hand-seals, if you keep your hands busy with holding the Materia anyway?_'

The bijuu huffed in annoyance. They had discussed this at length already. By using Materia Naruto could bypass the seals-making process usually required for techniques, so he could theoretically perform those and contemporarily use his hands to do something else, like punching, grabbing or parrying. Fighting, in substance. But he still had to touch the sphere if he wanted it to work, so simple pockets or even normal holsters weren't good.

Really… how long did it take for the idiot to understand?

'_I got it already!_' Naruto grumbled as if reading his mind, kicking with his heels the trash can he was sitting on. '_And I did look for something useful in that shop. It's not my fault if you decided to do these things round-shaped!_' He waved both the Materia in his hands as if to make a point. '_No one ever holstered round weapons so there are no holsters for round things!_'

'_Then we will have one custom-made,_' the Kyuubi reasoned, ignoring the blond's snipping comments. '_And if even that fails we will make them ourselves!_'

'_I'm no good at that kind of things,_' the young genin murmured irritably, still abusing the bin under him. The loud clinking sounds that the trash can was continuing to produce eventually distracted him from the discussion. His brow furrowed. '_Wait a minute..._'

He jumped down from his raised position and looked under the bin's lid and at the piled junk inside. It was all metal, like twisted hunks of iron, broken parts of recognizable weapons, or even unrecognizable ones. Both he and the second Shadow clone dispelled by Sasuke had seen them when the trash can had toppled over but neither had given them much notice until now.

Naruto glanced around at the tall buildings surrounding the alley. The one on the right was a restaurant while the one on the left a tailor. No weapon shops or armory around. This didn't make much sense.

He started looking around and pacing near the walls, some times sniffing the air as if in search of something. The Kyuubi remained quiet, having slowly started to pick up something strange himself. After a few minutes, Naruto suddenly stopped and leaned to the left as if intent on listening to something over the noise of the busy street nearby.

And then he heard it, a soft clanging sound that seemed to come from afar.

His reaction was quick. He ran to the end of the alley and peered down.

"There!" he cried in exultance as he finally saw what he was looking for.

On the ground in front of him, just shy of the wall that represented the alley's dead end, a thin, almost unnoticeable crack could be seen going from left to right for a few inches, and right next to it, a large rectangular stone nicely disguised in the pavement.

Letting out a breath of excitement, Naruto lightly touched the stone with his fingers before pressing it down forcefully. A click was all that followed before the ground to his left seemed to give away and unfold on itself, revealing a steep flight of stairs descending towards a barely illuminated room.

Naruto's eyes widened like disks as they settled upon the young girl underground currently gaping with shock at him.

"Uhm," the young genin said with an uncertain smile. "May I come in?"

* * *

Tenten had always been a strong girl. Her family and friends had repeatedly told her that since she was very young, way before she enrolled in the Academy, and way before she became a shinobi of the Leaf. She was a strong girl – _now ninja_, she corrected herself – and that had nothing to do with the lethal techniques learned in training or her impressive skills with all kinds of weapons.

She had grown up in a family where ninja career was the normal course everyone took and she hadn't been exempt just because she was born a girl, fortunately. If that wasn't enough, she had spent a good portion of her childhood in a group of friends of which she was the youngest and the only female.

She became the exact definition of a tomboy – whether because of the environment she grew up in or because of personal predisposition, she did not know – although in the last year she had discovered and embraced a part of her feminine side she previously did not now. Or at least… that was what her mother had said. Of course, her mother had also said she had entered that normal rebellious phase every teenager went through, and that was utter bullshit in Tenten's opinion.

She did what she wanted to do, not what others didn't want her to do.

Although she couldn't deny her family had pointed her in that direction, becoming a ninja had ultimately been _her_ choice, and she had chosen that because it was what she wanted to do and it was well within her rights to do so. The same went for what she was doing at the moment, no matter what her father said.

All these beautiful thoughts about independence and freedom disappeared completely from her mind, though, when the trapdoor above her suddenly opened. Her heart jumped to her throat in fear, only to then drop again to its rightful place when she realized it wasn't her father who had opened it, but a small blond boy, wearing an orange jumpsuit and a Leaf head-protector.

"Uhm… may I come in?"

The words, so hesitantly spoken, contributed to the slowing of her heartbeat and the resuming of her breathing process. Her brain started working again and elaborated that an unknown boy – _ninja_, she amended at once – had just opened the secret entrance of the place.

"Who are you?" she asked still a little stunned, and the ninja grinned brightly.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage of Konoha!" he shouted needlessly and his voice echoed in the underground chamber. "What are you doing down here?"

Tenten ignored the question to ask one herself. "How did you find this place?"

"Eh? Oh, I was sitting outside and thought it was strange that all those bins had inside were pieces of metal or broken weapons," he explained. "I looked around and noticed the crack near the wall. I found the switch, pressed it and… it opened this secret passage!" The excitement in his voice was evident as he took a step down the stairs. "May I?"

Tenten moved around the desk she was working on before nodding. "I hadn't thought about removing the trash," she confessed. "But what I'm more worried about is that you actually found the switch without knowing what to look for." She grumbled irritably. "Grampa just showed me the secret entrance. He didn't tell me how to conceal it."

"Oh, don't worry about it!" the blond ninja – probably genin like her – said, skipping the last few steps with a gracious leap. "I'm pretty good at this kind of stuff! Hiding places are my thing!" he bragged loudly while looking around curiously. "Are you hiding yourself or something in here?"

The girl smiled a little nervously. "Both," she admitted. "In fact, I better close the entrance before someone sees it." She moved to the stairs, brushing her bare arm lightly against the young ninja's hand and exhaling a relieved breath she didn't even know she was holding.

Her father would reprimand her for basing her judgment on her _ridiculous_ powers, but she trusted them just as much as the kunai and shuriken in her holsters, and when she had touched this Uzumaki Naruto, self-declared future Hokage of Konoha, they had told her he wasn't a threat.

She couldn't remember very well the times when she didn't possess the strange ability of _feeling_ others – she had yet to come up with a better word to describe it – but she was firmly convinced that it had all started with the… _incident_. Since then, these strange powers her father didn't approve of had accompanied her throughout her whole life and had slowly evolved in different and increasingly complicated ways – she now had to resort to focuses like _I Ching_ hexagrams and Astrology to make sense of them – but sensing other people's intentions and mood with a touch had remained pretty much the same.

The orange-clad ninja had only _felt_ like curiosity and fascination, so there was no reason not to be friendly.

Looking intently outside till the last moment, she quickly closed the entrance to the underground chamber before turning around.

The young blond had not wasted any time in taking a look around. His wide eyes traveled from the big anvil in the middle of the room to the high wooden tank filled with water on the side, then from the large, now cold hearth behind the desk to the metal material arranged in a corner.

"Don't tell me-" he started with an amazed voice but she interrupted him.

"My name is Tenten," she said with a smile, before gesturing down with her hand, "and this is my family forge, the Golden Dragon, although we don't really deal with gold here."

She couldn't help but smiling nostalgically at the familiar words. He had heard them so many times when she was a kid, either from her father, brother or mother, that they came almost automatically to her, despite years having passed by. Even the tone they had always used… she found herself mimicking it exactly. She looked down at the impressed ninja staring up at her and it was almost like having a customer again. The idea made a tingling feeling rise up in her chest and she decided to humor it for a while.

"We produce everything a shinobi might ever need throughout his life, from common but high-quality throwing weapons to rare and deadly chakra blades and armor." The words rolled out of her mouth with the practiced ease of someone knowing them by heart, but they left a bittersweet after-taste on her tongue as she thought about the present times. She mulled the idea on her mind before finally deciding. "The actual shop above us is closed at the moment, and the few things I made are on the cabinet over there, but I can accept requests if customers actually have any."

Naruto grinned widely at that, walking up to the cabinet in question. He practically pressed his nose against the displaying glass as his eyes roamed over both short and long blades and sets of kunai and shuriken.

"This is incredible! I was just looking for weapons and here I am! In an awesome secret forge!" he cheered, turning around before wincing badly. To Tenten, it almost looked like someone had shouted in the genin's ears and the boy actually stopped to glare at the empty air to his right for a long second. "_Although_…" he grumbled apparently annoyed, "I need to buy something else first."

The brunette looked at the weird boy warily. "What were you looking for?"

"Uhm, something of a weapon holster," the young blond explained. "A very particular one, though. I've been in another weapon shop a little while ago and they had nothing even remotely similar to what I had in mind."

"Actually," the brunette started, stepping down the stairs, "that's pretty much what I was going to work on next, mixing protective metal with fabric… I had armored meshes in mind, but weapon holsters might be even better…" She blushed a little, deciding that revealing a little bit of truth, even if embarrassing, was in order. "I'm… basically new at this… the shop has been closed for years now and the forge unused for nearly as long. I just started blacksmithing a few months ago under my grandfather's directions and… well… I'm still testing my skills, that's it…"

"These look great, though," Naruto said impressed, looking at the weapons in the cabinet again.

"Uhm, thanks. Grampa as well told me they're good," she admitted a little self-consciously. "He's an expert blacksmith, although he's retired, and he's not the kind of person to praise lightly, so I'm pretty happy about what I've done."

"Why are you hiding it then?" the blond genin asked curiously, and for a moment Tenten was reminded of her friend and teammate Rock Lee and of his naiveté. "Is it forbidden or something?"

The girl grimaced a little. "You could say that." She watched the ninja in front of her with uncertainty before making up her mind. "My father doesn't want me here. He closed up our Golden Dragon six years ago and when I voiced my interest in our family art of blacksmithing almost a year ago, he prohibited me from ever coming here."

She unintentionally let her frustration seep into her voice and the blond frowned.

"Why?"

"Because he's a scaredy cat!" The sudden outburst made Naruto jump a little, and the brunette immediately blushed beat red at having lost her temper like that. "Sorry. It's just… it's just that this entire thing makes me jumpy."

She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself and wondering why the hell she was even talking about this mess with an unknown ninja. Probably for the same reason why she let him inside the underground chamber, she reasoned within herself. But still… time to steer the conversation to another topic.

"Anyway, you said to be in need of a weapon holster and the next step of my training would probably include something like that," she said once she had recomposed herself. "We could kill two birds with one stone if you agree." She gave her smile a try and was satisfied in finding it so easily after her little tantrum. The blond ninja's contagious grin was probably at fault for that, at least partly.

"That would be awesome!" he cheered at once, advancing towards her. "I would have probably ended up getting it custom-made anyway, so I was lucky to find you."

"You did mentioned you need a _very particular one_," she quoted. "What is exactly the weapon you have to holster?"

Naruto's grin got even wider, if that was possible. He reached inside his pocket and pulled a round rock out.

"This."

Tenten's brow furrowed inquisitively. "A stone?"

"It's not a-" he started angrily before huffing. "It's not a simple stone. It has powers."

Tenten raised a doubtful eyebrow at that, and during the following minute, the young blond tried to explain with vague words and examples what his _Materia_ did. Apparently, it enabled him to perform some kind of jutsu just by touching it, but he didn't want to hold it at every moment and it didn't work in normal pockets and holsters. It sounded like a story poorly made up on the spot to Tenten, and her initial enthusiasm started to slowly decrease as a consequence.

"Listen," she said skeptically after a while, "maybe it would be better if you just showed me this Materia power."

Naruto stopped abruptly in his hesitant explanation to look around the room. "In here?"

"Why not?" the brunette said with slight curiosity. "Is this jutsu so wild and destructive to threaten the whole place?"

Naruto seemed to think it over before shaking his head. "No… It's rather controlled, actually."

"It's perfect, then," Tenten said, a slight challenge in her voice. "I still have to try my hand at chakra weapons, but I did use part of a chakra-resistant metal to make this blade." She extracted a long wakizashi from a hook in the cabinet and showed it to him.

"You want me to use it as a target?" the young blond asked while blinking his eyes quizzically. "What if I damage it?"

"I don't think that will happen," the girl said confidently. "Grampa checked it and told me I had done a good job with it. It will be able to withstand the stress of a single jutsu easily."

Naruto seemed to almost scowl at the blade before turning resolute. "Okay," he agreed, grinning slightly. "Let's do it."

Tenten smirked, putting the wakizashi on an iron stool and taking a few steps back. She watched as the young blond looked down at the stone in his fingers before inexplicably putting it back in his trousers' right pocket. A second later, he produced another identical one from the left pocket and held it slightly forward.

Immediately, a green light seemed to seep through the cracks in the pavement all around Naruto to lit up the dim underground chamber with its fluorescent hue. An instant later, Tenten could hardly believe her eyes as the wakizashi blade and part of the iron stool underneath it were covered by a very thick layer of what looked like ice and, upon its shattering, broke apart like a delicate crystal in the hands of a careless man.

"Oh my goodness," she whispered, shocked, while metal pieces dropped loudly to the ground.

"But- but… you said it would have withstood the jutsu!" Naruto shouted a second later, sounding cheated, even panicked maybe. "I didn't want to destroy it!"

Tenten just stared at the broken weapon and stool with wide eyes for a couple of seconds.

"Uhm…" she eventually said, blinking repeatedly. "Don't worry about it."

"Really?"

"Yeah." The brunette turned to the blond and the stone in his hands. "I honestly didn't expect that. Either Grampa lied to me or overestimated my wakizashi."

Naruto grinned at that. "Or maybe I'm awesome that way."

"Maybe," Tenten conceded with a nod of her head. "Anyway, I'm going to make a better one soon. After making a _Materia holster_, of course."

The blond's eyes sparkled brightly at those words. "Really? That's great!"

"Now that I saw what it does and how, I think I got a better idea of what to make." Tenten walked up to the desk and crouched down to peer inside a large box underneath it. "I should have… some… Iwa paper in here." She nodded approvingly when her fingers closed upon what she was looking for. "Here it is."

"Iwa paper?" Naruto asked. "What is it?"

The brunette stood up again and showed him the long silky cloth in her hands. "This is Iwa paper. It's a kind of fabric renowned for its high chakra-conducting qualities." She examined it intently as she explained. "It would be very impractical to create a holster with holes or empty parts where your skin would touch the Materia. It's way simpler if I use this. Your chakra will just flow through this cloth from your skin to the Materia it will holster. And with just a few armored parts, it will be incredibly resistant. Elastic as well."

Naruto seemed about to say something but abruptly closed his mouth. Tenten started wondering about that when the orange-clad genin tilted his head to the side before perking up suddenly.

"That's right!" he shouted. "Elastic! It needs to be elastic! The Materia will… they will get bigger as I use them. Is that a problem?"

"How much bigger?" the girl wanted to know.

There was another long pause in which Naruto seemed to be thinking carefully. "Not much, probably just half an inch or so."

"Then it won't be a problem at all," Tenten said nodding. She walked up to the desk and jotted down something on a scroll while thinking out loud. "The Iwa paper will stretch to let the stones fit and the armored parts will secure them firmly. If I heat the Dark Steel a tenth more than normal, I should be able to mix it together with the cloth and a fine mesh. And if I cool it quickly enough, the final crystallized texture will result in a stronger composition. The right proportions should probably be just an altered version of the Fuuton armor, given the elements and characteristics they will have in common"

"What?"

The blond genin in front of her was looking around uncertainly when she raised her head. Tenten made to explain but the completely puzzled look on his face halted her. She just smiled and couldn't seem to stop. "Don't worry about it, Naruto. I'll handle it."

They discussed the last few details for the next minutes, and after Tenten had assured him the holster would be ready around the start of the next week, she watched him open the secret entrance and reach the alley with a big smile on his face.

The brunette found herself smiling as well, and that tingling feeling in her stomach came back with a vengeance, widening it even more.

The Golden Dragon had a customer again, even if unofficially.

She continued to mull the happy thought in her head as she started working on Uzumaki Naruto's request.

* * *

Author's notes – Seeing as the theme of my last week has been 'Everything Is Bigger in Texas', here is the fifth chapter of Via Osmosis, significantly longer than the previous ones. It's here 24 hours later than usual because of that and because of the NBA All Star Week-End which deprived me of both sleeping and writing hours. Was it worth it? Yes, always. Was it less worthy than previous years? Yes, definitely so, unfortunately.

Anyway, I'm not very satisfied with this chapter. Not much happens, really, but it has important scenes nonetheless. I couldn't have skipped any. That said, I probably could have made them work better. Oh well…

I want to thank all the reviewers, but I have to say I am a little surprised by all the comments about the Kyuubi's final reaction. I thought I had explained the situation about Naruto's chakra already, and if you think about some key-moments in the previous chapters, you should see why. Take the bijuu's words when the jinchuuriki learnt the Kage Bunshin no jutsu, for example – he admitted he was convinced that the boy didn't have the chakra needed. More importantly, take the demon's conversation with the Hokage later on – he said (and he wasn't lying) that both Naruto's mind and chakra are out of his control, so he just couldn't know about the boy's incredible reserves. And, despite it not being strictly canon, it makes sense in my opinion.

As for the actual _outburst_ of the Kyuubi… well, of course it's an out of character reaction if you consider the canon Kyuubi! _My_ Kyuubi stopped being _canon_ Kyuubi since the blast of chakra left his muzzle and the plan for freedom was conceived in the prologue!

Till next time,

Uncle Stojil


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

* * *

"I think I know who will be our jounin sensei."

At those words, Haruno Sakura turned inquisitively towards the person who had spoken them, glad that someone had finally broken the awkward silence. Uzumaki Naruto, her new teammate together with Uchiha Sasuke, shrugged under her scrutiny from the opened doors of the classroom.

"I met him three days ago at the Hokage tower," he continued after a short moment of pause. "He and the jounin with the beard who left with Shikamaru's team were talking about the team assignment meeting with the Hokage. I was looking for both of them earlier but didn't see him. I guess he is our late sensei."

"What is he like?" Sakura asked, glancing at Sasuke-kun and hoping he hadn't noticed the nervousness in her voice.

The blond genin leaned forward eagerly. "He has silver hair spiking up wildly over his head-protector and a mask hiding his face from his nose down." He nodded his head with a grin. "And even above, only his right eye is left visible because he keeps his hitai-ite askew to cover the left one."

Sakura blinked once before frowning disapprovingly.

"Stop making things up, Naruto!" she berated him, putting her hands on her hips. "How can you expect us to believe something like that?"

The orange-clad ninja had already started to protest his innocence when Sasuke spoke up from his seat.

"Did he look strong?"

The pink-haired kunoichi was left gawking slightly in the following silence. She stared at the dark-haired boy agape for a long moment before starting doing that a little more discreetly, meaning with her mouth closed.

Naruto frowned a little at those words, turning towards Sasuke and watching him warily for a long second. "I only met him in a hallway," he explained. "Bu I guess he seemed very… ninja-like."

The Uchiha thought about it for a moment before nodding in understanding and turning away again.

Sakura managed not to gape this time, but it was a close call. In her mind she asked herself for the umpteenth time that day what exactly had happened between Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto recently. Something had to, it was impossible to think otherwise.

The kunoichi moved from the sensei desk and started walking up and down the classroom, her eyes still observing the two surreptitiously. Sasuke-kun looked as cool as always behind his steepled hands and his dark fringe. Naruto seemed to be slightly less energetic than normal, maybe, but overall he was his usual idiotic self. No, the difference was not in the two boys separately, she repeated to herself. It just was in their interaction.

Sakura had noticed something was off as soon as the blond had started bragging to the class about his genin status and the secret surrounding it. She happened to be looking in Sasuke's _general_ direction when her classmates first asked Naruto about his head-protector and his presence there, and she didn't see any surprise or scepticism on the Uchiha's face, unlike the others present, Sakura included. He had looked like he had known that already, instead, but at the same time seemed curious about it, even though he masked it pretty well. But Sakura knew her Sasuke-kun better than anyone else, of course, and… well, she _was_ a shinobi trained to pick up and interpreting expressions and body language, after all...

And that was exactly why she thought something had happened between the two of them. Because when she observed them intently, sometimes she could catch a glimpse of something else on the dark-haired boy's feature, something she had never expected to see there and most of all directed at Naruto of all people.

She had first noticed it when they had been left alone in the classroom. Every other team had exited the room, and during the first few minutes, all her attempts at starting a conversation with Sasuke had been crushed down in an eerily similar manner to how Naruto's had been crushed by her. The following silence had been very awkward and uncomfortable until the young Uchiha himself hadn't surprisingly spoken up.

"I met your clone yesterday, you know?" he had told Naruto, turning slightly in his seat with a smirk.

"Clones, really," the orange-clad ninja had corrected with annoyance. "And you just had to go and dispel both of them!"

Sasuke's smirk had grown larger as he gloated silently, earning himself a harsh glower from the blond.

"It wouldn't have happened if you hadn't surprised them like that," Naruto had resumed grumpily. "Really, attacking when there clearly was a truce on… that was a dirty, underhanded trick if I ever saw one."

The dark-haired boy had raised both his eyebrows at that. "There are no underhanded tricks when you're a ninja."

Naruto had then looked surprisingly annoyed. "Why do you all say the same thing? You make it sound like tricking and cheating is the right way to go!"

"Maybe because it is?" Sasuke had suggested with a scoff.

"Well, I don't like it at all!" the blond had protested stubbornly. "Now that I'm a ninja, I'm gonna do it MY way! And I'll be the best one ever and show everyone which the RIGHT way is! Believe it!"

And that was when Sakura had first noticed Sasuke's strange gaze. The dark-haired boy had simply stopped looking smug or even – dare she say it – _arrogant_, and had just observed the other ninja with… respect? Comprehension? No, that wasn't exactly right. Maybe… acknowledgement, yes, that was it.

Uchiha Sasuke was acknowledging Uzumaki Naruto.

"Whatever," he had eventually said, dismissing the whole thing and turning away.

The argument had then died away with Naruto's sputtering, and silence had descended once again, even more awkward then before, if that was even possible.

Sakura had repeatedly replayed the surreal scene in her mind afterwards, failing to make sense of it, just like the strange interaction just ended about their _supposed_ masked, silver-haired sensei. And still, one thing seemed clear. Sasuke looked at Naruto with a different gaze, certainly a better one in respect to what he reserved to her, or anyone else for that matter. The blond idiot had somehow managed to earn the acknowledgement of the Uchiha genius, something many people strived for with no result whatsoever. Sakura wondered why and just couldn't come up with a satisfying answer. It couldn't have been Naruto's genin status – she was one herself now and he still looked at her like she was just a bother, unfortunately – and neither could have been how the blond had attained it – the pink-haired kunoichi was positive Sasuke didn't know what was the big secret behind that. So… what could that have been?

As she mulled this over, she resigned to just observe for the time being, with the hope to find her answer by analyzing her two new teammates. She was good at it, she told herself. She could do it.

For now, though, there wasn't much to observe. Just like she had previously noticed, Naruto seemed somewhat tired and proved it by slumping on his seat and desk and unceremoniously taking a nap, while Sasuke just stayed still and quiet in his usual position and ignored everything and everyone, leaving her to just keep on wondering.

It wasn't until more than another hour had passed that the classroom door suddenly slid open with a loud crashing sound. She bolted upright immediately, having almost dozed off on her desk after the boring wait. Naruto practically mirrored her but he also mumbled a slurred "Wha?" before his eyes finally became alert for real. Sasuke just turned his head slightly towards the doorway and the newcomer standing on it.

Much to Sakura's secret surprise, the man in front of them was _indeed_ silver-haired and almost completely covered by mask and head-protector. He was also very tall and, despite being lean, very imposing as well. His eyebrows were raised slightly as he took in the scene. He looked at Naruto specifically.

"We see again," he said almost lazily. "Last time I caught you stealing, now sleeping. I don't know if I can call it an improvement."

Naruto blushed a little under Sakura and Sasuke's inquisitive gaze.

"I wasn't stealing!" he protested loudly before wiping at his mouth with his orange sleeve. "And I wasn't sleeping either!" Sasuke scoffed at that and the blond blushed a little more before pointing his finger accusingly at the man on the doorway. "And even if I was, it's your fault for being, what? Three hours late? What's your excuse?"

"I got lost in the path of life," the jounin said with such a straight face that Sakura didn't know how to react to that. Was she supposed to laugh? She took her cue from Naruto on this one and just scowled at him.

"What a lame excuse!" the blond genin shouted but the man just shrugged it off.

"It's true. Now, please, come with me to the roof."

He left just like that, expecting to be followed. Sakura diligently did so, looking back at a calm-looking Sasuke and a sputtering Naruto. When they reached the Academy roof, the jounin was leaning against the railing and, after he gestured for them to sit down, he started talking.

"So, let's begin with some introductions, likes, disliked, dreams for the future and things like that," he said, looking only vaguely interested. "Who's gonna start?"

"Why don't you do it first?" Naruto asked sounding still a bit rebellious. He sat down to Sasuke's left while she sat on the other side.

"Oh, me?" the man said lazily. "Well, my name is Hatake Kakashi. I have no desire to tell you guys my likes and dislikes. Dreams for the future… hmmm… I have few hobbies."

Silence followed those words before Sakura turned to her teammates.

"So all he told us is his name?" she asked as if in need of a confirmation. The two boys just looked highly unimpressed.

"Now it's your turn," the jounin eventually said. "Let's start on the right."

Sakura visibly perked up at that as her eyes travelled to the blond genin who had already started introducing himself. She only listened with half-an-ear to what he said, though, deciding to put most of her attention in the observation of one Uchiha Sasuke. The dark-haired boy just looked uninterested at first, she noted, while Naruto talked about ramen like the obsessed he was. But when the idiot started babbling about becoming Hokage, the expression on his face changed.

The pink-haired kunoichi narrowed her eyes. Now that she knew exactly what to look for, it was impossible not to see it.

Sasuke really acknowledged Naruto, there was no doubting it. What she couldn't help but continue to doubt, though, was the reason why he did that. The Uchiha genius didn't really think the blond could become Hokage, right?

Sakura shook her head slightly. That was wrong on so many levels. The answer must have been another one, she told herself while Sasuke started talking. She momentarily interrupted her reasoning to better listen to the boy's introduction and couldn't help but blush a little at his words. He was so cool…

"Ok…" Kakashi's voice brought her back on earth. "And lastly the girl, Pinky."

Sakura startled a little as she turned to the man. He looked expectantly at her for a long moment before encouraging her with a vague hand-gesture. She swallowed dryly. Crap, she hadn't thought about what to tell him, too distract by her two teammates.

"Uhm, well," she started hesitantly, blushing slightly. "My name is Haruno Sakura. The thing I like is… well, the person I like is... and uhm… my dream for the future is…"

She chanced a look in Sasuke's direction at that but diverted her gaze at once, depressed. The boy's usual mask had slipped once again on his face, and its coldness and indifference, even contempt, felt like a dagger thrust at her chest.

She didn't want to be looked at like that by Sasuke-kun. She wanted him to look at her like he looked at Naruto, with acknowledgement and respect, and, maybe… why not? Love, eventually. She wanted to be his and wanted him to be hers in return.

That was her dream for the future.

But as her heart opened up ready to say that, or something like that anyway, her brain spun furiously against it, raging with all its might and shouting at it about how that was the last thing to say at the moment. They needed to take a page from Naruto's book here, as strange as it sounded, and try to say something, _anything_, as long as it was boisterous and over the top, if they wanted their real, mutual dream to come true. Her heart reiterated that it would come true anyway, eventually, because Love always won in the end, to which her brain replied with a simple but firm 'Shut up!' which seemed to settle the matter.

For an instant, the dizziness this unexpected fight had caused prevented her to speak. Then, her own voice resonated in her ears.

"My dream for the future is to become the greatest kunoichi ever!"

As she blurted the words out, stiffening like she had just saw death was all she could do to avoid clasping her own hands on her mouth.

What had she said?

A strange, alien force compelled her to turn to the left and to the dark-haired boy sitting nearby. Sakura's eyes widened like discs when she realized there was neither indifference nor contempt on his face, but only slight surprise and curiosity. It didn't last long before coldness and scorn went back to those beautiful dark orbs, only because of her hesitant, even panicked expression, her smug brain reasoned. Sasuke turned away again and didn't deign her of a single look for the rest of the meeting.

The next hour passed by as a blur to Haruno Sakura, the news of the soon-to-happen survival training and of its failure rate being the only statements managing to temporarily shake her from her dazed state of mind. She didn't even shout at Naruto when the idiot fawned over her before leaving like the others. She walked home while reading the paper her Sensei had given her and barely understanding it, Sasuke's expression at her made-up dream unshakably on her mind.

Becoming the greatest kunoichi ever… maybe she could really give it a try… just being looked at by Sasuke-kun like that would be worth the effort.

That night, Haruno Sakura fell asleep grinning sillily, grand plans about a legendary ninja career alongside a dark-haired boy dotting her recurring dreams.

Reality would knock on her door, and quite loudly too, the next day.

* * *

"Ok," Hatake Kakashi said, his hands gripping Naruto's wrist and head firmly.

The blond ninja gritted his teeth angrily in his subdued position, his own kunai pointed at the back of his neck.

He would totally kick this bastard's ass and get a bell.

'_Naruto,_ g_et ready to hide,_' the Kyuubi immediately hissed to his host, as if sensing his foolishness.

'_What?_' The genin protested in his mind. '_But I want to fight him!_'

'_Listen to me. You'll fight him soon enough._'

"Let's get going," the jounin continued unperturbed, unaware of Naruto's inner turmoil.

'_Why not now?_' the blond tried again stubbornly.'_I can-_'

'_Just trust me, okay?_' the Demon interrupted him, starting to lose his patience. '_Hide in the bushes._'

"Ready?"

Kakashi started loosening his grip on him and Naruto tensed eagerly.

'_Oh, come ooon,_' the genin pleaded. '_What if I-_' he started to suggest but the bijuu apparently had had enough.

'_JUST FUCKING HIDE, YOU LITTLE DIPSHIT!_'

"Begin!"

Startled by the Kyuubi's hostility, Uzumaki Naruto wisely decided that hiding was probably the best thing to do for the moment, at least to not enrage his tenant more than he already had. When the hold on his arm and head vanished, the blond genin immediately jumped away and into the wooded area, mirrored, he noticed idly, by his two teammates.

'_Thank you, Naruto-kun_,' the Demon Fox said with mock sweetness, his deep voice dripping with sarcasm. '_I feel better now._'

The blond genin was about to say something back, possibly in the most scathing manner, when Kakashi spoke up from the centre of the training ground.

"The most important thing for a shinobi is to be able to hide yourself," he stated, and Naruto could practically feel the smugness radiating from the bijuu.

'_Tell me about it,_' the Kyuubi said dryly.

Not having the possibility to direct it to his inner prisoner, the blond genin levelled his scowl on Kakashi instead.

'_I _am _able to hide myself, and you should know it_,' he retorted. '_I just didn't see the reason now, that's all!_'

'_The point of this whole thing is to impress your Sensei. So of course he would want to see you performing at least the _basics_ of what is expected from a shinobi, like hiding! This test is all about that._'

Naruto blinked owlishly.

'_About hiding?_'

The Demon Fox would have facepalmed if he could have.

'_No, Naruto. I meant about the basics of a shinobi_,' he answered blandly.

'_Ah,_' the blond said as if _now_ that finally made sense. '_But I thought this was about taking a bell from him._'

'_He's a jounin, and you saw a bit of what he can do when he made a fool out of you earlier,_' the Kyuubi pointed out. '_Nobody would expect a mere genin to be able to get a bell from him. Trust me, I fought my fair share of jounin back in my time, and there is no way for you to succeed._'

'_So…_' Naruto tried tentatively, '_all I have to do is to try and impress him?_'

'_Yes, although probably in a quirky way I have yet to figure out._'

'_But how can I do it if I just hide?_'

The bijuu rolled his eyes. '_Of course you don't _just_ hide. You're gonna _try_ to get a bell._'

'_Great!_' Naruto cheered, already moving to face his Sensei. '_I'm going then._'

'_Wait!_' the Kyuubi called before he could reveal himself. '_Send a clone at least, before going yourself. Think of it as scouting your opponent's skills in advance instead of just jumping against an opponent you don't know anything about. That's exactly the kind of things that will impress Kakashi._'

The blond genin paused for a moment before nodding. '_That makes sense_,' he said as if it was a surprising thing, which annoyed the Demon to no end. He then performed the Kage Bunshin no jutsu and watched as his clone entered the clearing with a determined expression.

"Come here and fight me!"

The… _fight_, if it could even be called that, turned out weird and short. It ended with the secret technique A 1000 Years of Pain, after every one of the Shadow clone's attack had been easily defended against by a reading Kakashi. When the copy of Naruto was dispelled, though, the jounin appeared surprised.

"Hmmm… Kage Bunshin no jutsu… the technique that creates not just an illusion like a normal Bunshin, but a real, corporeal body," the silver-haired man mused aloud while turning around. "Sent to gauge my skills and take a look at just what you're gonna deal with." He looked around the bushes before opening his book again. "I admit I didn't expect that."

His voice didn't sound very impressed, but the roundabout praise only served to boost Naruto's morale. A second later, another five Shadow clones sprang in existence and dashed towards the clearing and the ninja standing in the middle of it.

'_I don't think that will be of any use, Naruto,_' the Kyuubi said. '_You can't simply attack him head-on and hope to get lucky._'

The blond genin grinned slightly at that.

'_But I have a plan for it,_' he pointed out. '_The first clone didn't have time to use the Lightning Materia, and maybe that was for the best. I want to see how he fairs against it now._'

'_Probably with as much nonchalance as he did against your taijutsu,_' the bijuu said bluntly, although interested in what the jinchuuriki had exactly in mind. '_I already told you – Materia isn't the solution to every problem or every fight. At least, not until you can back it up with something else._'

Naruto just grunted at that, having heard the argument enough times already. '_It will impress him in any case, I think. It's a pity Tenten's got the Ice Materia for measurements, though_.'

"Five now, eh?" Kakashi said, looking up from his book. "But no matter how many you line up, you're just Naruto. You can't beat me with that jutsu."

The blond genin watched intently as the Kage Bunshin started their attack. At first, it seemed like it would go pretty much like last time - despite there being more opponents, Kakashi easily parried or dodged every punch and kick the clones sent his way, while continuing to read his Icha Icha Paradise and barely moving from his spot. For a moment, a nice impromptu tactic initiated by three Narutos seemed to put one of them in a favourable position to get a bell, but the silver-haired man just stopped paying attention to his book for a moment and deflected the searching hand. That went on for a couple more minutes until suddenly, every clone but one charged at once against the jounin and managed to trap him in their midst. Even then, they didn't manage to land a single hit against the insanely strong opponent, but they were only meant to be a distraction.

Naruto leaned forward eagerly from his hidden spot as the lonely Kage Bunshin, stayed behind while his allies attacked, quickly pulled out the Lightning Materia and raised it over his head.

"Take this!" he shouted over the noise, right as the green light flashed around him.

'_This is it,_' Naruto told the Kyuubi while grinning maniacally. '_I got him!_'

And it surely looked like it, at least until the masked man didn't notice what was happening outside of the orange mass circling him. His only visible eye then widened in seeing the eerie fluorescence rising from the ground and in hearing the rumbling thunder above. The instant later, when the bolt of lightning came crashing down to the ground, Kakashi wasn't there anymore. From his position of vantage in the bushes, the original Naruto clearly saw the man magically appearing a few feet from where the clones were left blinking confusedly at each other and at the completely charred log in their midst.

'_Kawarimi!_' he commented to the Demon Fox as if he didn't know already, sounding oddly pleased by it.

The Kage Bunshin were yet to realize what was happening when, surprisingly enough, the jounin decided it was time for a nice demonstration. He went for the clone with the Materia first, maybe because he classified him as the greatest threat or because he was isolated. Either way, he dispelled it with a swift punch and continued quickly towards the others. He had eliminated another one before the others could finally react, but it was no use anyway. He was left alone in the clearing a second later, only the already fading wisps of smoke around him showing there had been some Kage Bunshin around him.

"Wow..." Naruto breathed out, unable to contain himself. He couldn't even see when Kakashi saved his book... he was so fast!

"That," the man started while dusting his clothes off lightly, "was impressive. A good show of teamwork between clones coupled with a lightning jutsu. C-rank from the looks of it. But still... I only had to use a Kawarimi to get away. You have to do better than that if you want to pass."

Naruto couldn't help but grin brightly at those words. It took him all his restraint not to stand up and brag aloud.

'_And again, I'm proved right._' The arrogance in the Kyuubi's voice effectively wiped the smile off his face, although his good mood remained. '_As I said, that was no use._'

The blond genin shrugged a little. '_What if I sent a hundred Kage Bunshin?_'

The bijuu shook his head. '_That would be useless as well. Kakashi would probably have to take the fight more seriously, but not even so much. What he said was right. No matter how many of you there are. It's still just you._'

'_Hmmm..._' Naruto murmured noncommittal. '_What would you propose, then?_'

The Demon was surprised to be so openly asked for his opinion, but masked it after a moment of silence.

'_Well, Kakashi's words right now made me think,_' he explained. '_He actually praised your clones' teamwork. So how about you team up with Sasuke and Sakura?_'

The blond frowned. '_Only with Sakura, you meant?_'

'_I would have meant only with Sasuke, if I had to choose. Sakura is the most useless of the two. By far._'

'_She's not-_' Naruto started to protest before the Kyuubi interrupted him, leaving him sputtering.

'_But, _anyway_, I meant with both her and Sasuke now. Together._'

'_No way I'm gonna team up with the Teme!_' the genin refused. '_Besides, there are only two bells. I'd risk ending up without one and I don't want to go back to the Academy!_'

'_And this is where I think the trick is!_' the Kyuubi exclaimed heatedly. '_The two bells! This test is all set up to put you three against each other, to make it a sort of competition. But Kakashi can't expect a single genin to be able to get a bell. That's impossible!_'

'_So you think he wants us to cooperate even if we know one of us will fail?_' Naruto asked pensively.

'_Or maybe he wants you to understand the whole point behind this test and act accordingly. Think about it..._' the Kyuubi told him. '_He praises your clones' teamwork and tells you you alone can't beat him. He practically told you what to do!_'

The blond started nodding slowly.

'_I think you're right,_' he said seeming persuaded before frowning. '_But still, teaming up with the Teme..._'

'_Shut up, _Dobe,' the bijuu said amusedly, earning a low growl from the jinchuuriki. '_And start searching for your teammates. You don't have the whole day._'

'_I know, I know,_' Naruto agreed standing up from his position as carefully as he could. '_But first..._' A quick hand-seal later and behind him, all safely hidden, a dozen Kage Bunshin appeared. '_Just to keep Kakashi distracted,_' he explained.

"You!" he called to one clone in a small but firm voice, ducking under a tree branch and walking up to him. "You're the Boss!"

The clone in question just pointed at himself with an uncertain expression before grinning widely. "Really? I mean... boss as in _Boss_?" he asked hopefully.

"Yeah." The original nodded looking serious. "Just like in our Boss-Spars. You take my place. And... you all try to take advantage of it, okay." He looked at his Kage Bunshin with a meaningful look, bringing a finger up to his temple. "Get it?"

The Kyuubi listened to Naruto as he reported his orders and was slightly impressed by the plan.

'_Surprisingly clever,_' he commented. '_But it won't be enough_.'

The blond genin just shrugged as the Kage Bunshin jumped away and towards Kakashi.

'_I know, but it won't hurt to try, right?_' He turned towards the woods behind him and started walking.'_Now, on to find my teammates and see if the Teme agrees with us on teamwork,_' he continued quietly before scowling. '_He'd better._'

* * *

Author's notes – Strange chapter, in my opinion. My plan is to change Sakura as soon as I can- she's far too useless at the beginning of the manga – but I don't mean to make her strong immediately. Quite the opposite. I'm trying to change her approach first, and not very fast either, so the results will show much later. As for Sasuke, of course he doesn't think Naruto could become Hokage – not yet, anyway – but he at least sees him in a different light.

The next chapter is practically complete already. I thought about making it one with this, but decided against it. The whole thing would have resulted too long and this felt like a good enough end of chapter. Anyway, expect an update soon. Bye.

Uncle Stojil


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

* * *

Sasuke watched as Kakashi patiently waited for his students to come to him. The dark-haired boy knew better than to get out of his hiding place and into the open, though. If he knew the Dobe a little, he wouldn't stop attacking until he got a bell or, more likely, a nice beating.

He stayed hidden, then, and a minute later the foreseen new batch of clones jumped in front of Kakashi. There were twelve this time, and Sasuke wondered just how many the idiot could spawn.

It took him a second to pick up that there was something strange. One of the Bunshin... it was strange, but it looked like he was Naruto, the real one. As he looked at how other clones subtly shifted in front of him in a probably involuntary show of protection, he considered the news. Maybe the Dobe had a plan that required his presence and, judging by his large grin, he was also very confident about it. Kakashi had noticed it too, of course... the man was an experienced jounin, and quite a strong one from what Sasuke could tell. Observing him fight from his hiding spot had been very interesting, almost enlightening, if he could say so.

Naruto had not been half-bad either, scratch that... he had looked unexpectedly good. Sasuke had already caught a glimpse of how useful his so called Shadow clones could be during his chase the day before, but now they seemed doubly so. If the Dobe's taijutsu had been better, he could have stood a chance in getting a bell, but as things were now, only if he pulled another big surprise out of his sleeve he could even just hope to succeed.

And speaking about surprises... that strange ninjutsu of his... damn, it looked powerful. Lightning striking from above... Sasuke had never heard about one like it. A C-rank, Kakashi had said, just like his Grand Fireball... The jounin had avoided it with a Kawarimi, a wise decision judging by the log that had replaced him. The thing was almost completely pulverized.

After a little of trash-talking on both sides, genin and jounin finally started fighting again. It soon became quite clear that even with twelve of them, the Dobe couldn't even land a hit. Of course, Kakashi could not read his book either, but he looked entirely too comfortable for an outnumbered guy. And another thing seemed certain, now. The original Naruto was taking part in the attack, and moreover, he was poorly masking it.

The dark-haired boy shook his head slightly when the blond just went out and started ordering everybody around, but he guessed there was no reason to hide it anymore. Kakashi had long since known the truth, just like Sasuke.

While observing his fellow genin intensely, he was surprised when, after hearing a small noise and quickly turning around with a kunai in hand, he found another Naruto looking at him with a finger in front of his mouth as a sign to stay quiet. Sasuke furrowed his brow as the blond gestured for him to follow deeper into the woods, but he curiously complied after one last glance at the fight behind his back. The blond eventually led him to a clearing nearby, out of Kakashi's earshot, where Sakura was apparently waiting for them.

"Sasuke-kun!" she called as soon as she saw him but he didn't answer.

"How did you find me?" he asked the Dobe instead.

"I just looked for the best hiding spots and found you in the third I checked," Naruto said simply. "It wasn't like you intended to hide yourself from me and Sakura-chan as well, right?"

Sasuke nodded curtly before narrowing his eyes. "Are you a clone?"

The blond flashed him a grin. "You fell for it too, huh?" he said cheekily. "I'm the original. The one fighting Kakashi is a clone pretending to be me. Hopefully, the others will take advantage of that should Sensei go out of his way for him."

The Uchiha scowled but was internally impressed. He wasn't about to say it, though. "I doubt that will get you a bell."

"Yeah, me too," Naruto surprisingly agreed. "I mostly need them to buy us time."

Sasuke looked at the other suspiciously.

"Us?"

The blond nodded.

"Yeah. We three have to team up."

"Why should I do that?" the dark-haired boy snapped at once. "You would only get in my way."

"Shut up, Teme!" Naruto barked back, glancing at Sakura and seeing her sad face. "You can't do it alone! Hell, we three probably can't do that, either!"

"Then how can you expect me to cooperate with you?"

"Because it's the whole point of this test!"

That finally got Sasuke's interest. He looked at the Dobe with a furrowed brow.

"What do you mean?"

"It's true, Sasuke-kun," Sakura stepped in shyly. "I didn't believe it either when he first told me, but it makes sense."

The Uchiha turned momentarily to her before looking at Naruto again. "How so?"

As the blond explained his reasoning, the dark-haired boy found himself thinking carefully about it. Remembering Kakashi's words both before and during the fight, he had to admit the Dobe's theory was plausible.

"Now that I think about it," Sakura added when Naruto finished, "passing just two genin out of three seems really weird. At the Academy, we studied all those things about the famous three-man teams of Konoha, like the Sannin for example." The girl saw the blond's confused expression and explained, "They were the team trained by the Sandaime and they all became legendary ninja." She quickly glanced at Sasuke, blushing a little. "Tsunade-sama, reputed to be the greatest kunoichi in history, was part of that team."

"Wow, I didn't know that," Naruto said bemused. "Ojiisan surely must be an incredible teacher!"

Sasuke looked at the Dobe with a raised eyebrow before turning to the girl who resumed her explanation.

"Besides that, Ino-pig often mentions her father's three-man team and how it is one of the best in Konoha." She rolled her eyes. "She says their Sensei is a pervert, though." No one commented on that and she continued. "Considering this, it would be strange to leave us a member less by sending only one of us back to the Academy. Plus, what if, by chance, none of us deserved that? What if we all were ready to become genin even by Kakashi's standards?" The girl shook her head. "This two-bell test would practically force him to ignore that and fail one anyway."

"He set us up to fight amongst ourselves," Sasuke said with a nod. "And he wants us to see the trick underneath that."

They looked at each other and... smiled. All three of them, all at the same time, they shared a moment of complicity Sasuke had never experienced before. He didn't know what to think of it.

He stopped smiling after a moment, though, when Naruto spoke up.

"We a team, then?"

Sakura nodded eagerly, looking at Sasuke hopefully. After a moment of hesitation, the dark-haired boy nodded as well.

"Well, this is perfect," the blond then said with a large grin, "because Kakashi just dispelled the last clone and is coming for us."

"How do you know that?" Sakura asked a little alarmed.

"He told the fake me before punching him," Naruto explained.

"And how do you know _that_?" Sasuke pressed on.

"Oh," Naruto said, finally comprehending. "Uhm, when Kage Bunshin die, their memories pass to me."

"Ah."

That explained other things as well, the Uchiha thought.

"We better hurry," he then said firmly, quickly assessing the situation. "We must lay a trap and hide ourselves."

Surprisingly, Naruto spoke up again.

"I think I've noticed something we can use."

As they quickly conceived a plan to get the bells from their tricky Sensei, Sasuke found himself optimistic about it.

The trap came out surprisingly good, admittedly better than the one he had previously thought of. Maybe the say was true, he considered.

Three heads were really better than one.

* * *

The day was turning out to be surprisingly interesting to one Hatake Kakashi. He had woken up in the morning – late! – with the thought that it would probably be just another day, but now he was slowly starting to reconsider it.

The jounin advanced carefully into the woods, all his senses trained on the area around him. The little fights against Naruto had certainly been interesting enough to make him drop the distracted-act, and now he was as alert as during a mission. He felt like the young blond had earned at least that.

Naruto had been... surprising to say the least. Much stronger than he had expected, more resourceful and... cunning. Using a Shadow clone to scout ahead and then another one to act as if he was the original to bait him out and hopefully in a disadvantaged position. It was much better than the charge-head-down approach Kakashi had first envisioned from him.

And that jutsu of his... the jounin almost got a heart-attack when he saw it coming and as a lightning technique to boot. The Hokage had told him practically _nothing_ about the so called Materia Naruto possessed, but he guessed the jutsu had been its doing, judging by the completely unusual way it had come to life. 'Magical stone' the old man had said and it fit pretty well in Kakashi's opinion.

Naruto's Materia was the reason why he had been assigned this team, probably just as much as the presence of the last Uchiha. The Sandaime hadn't said it outright when he had talked privately with him after the meeting, but aside from teaching them, part of Kakashi's duty was to keep an eye on them and make sure they stayed – or better yet, become – stable shinobi… as much as a shinobi could be stable, anyway. Sakura was probably just the filler on this team, but the girl could become a fine kunoichi if she put her academically impressive mind to it.

All in all, it could have been worse, could have been better, and couldn't have been more interesting, he had thought when he had been assigned Team 7. He hadn't said anything on those lines to the Hokage but something seemed certain in his mind.

There was no way he would let Team 7 pass.

Too much of a bother. He wasn't the type. Dealing with problematic children was not his forte, and even less it was with incompetent genin. Too many boring D-rank missions. No fun assassination assignments. The Uchiha. The Kyuubi. Maito Gai… God, did he even _have_ to start on _Gai_ and his genin team?!

No, there was no way he would let Team 7 pass.

And still…

He would have probably missed him if he hadn't been so concentrated, Sasuke hiding in a group of bushes, although Sakura crouched behind a nearby tree was easily enough to sense. He wondered if the two had just stumbled across each other or if the pink-haired girl was simply following her crush around. It didn't matter much, he reasoned, as he stepped forward as if he hadn't noticed a thing.

And that was when he noticed another unusual fact. There was Naruto as well, somewhere nearby, an almost casual sniff of his sweaty scent telling him this. Kakashi's eyes narrowed, only one of them visible.

Was it coincidence that all his three little genin were hiding around the same clearing, all at the same time? Hoping against hope, the masked man thought not, and when he finally realized just _what position_ Naruto and Sakura were occupying, a grin threatened to slip through his lazy mask.

Oh, if this turned out to be what he thought it was...

As he stepped into the open space, one of the hidden genin finally moved, throwing several shuriken his way. It was Sasuke, whose aim and force weren't half-bad.

"Such direct attacks won't work on me," he said derisively, but as he side-stepped the attack, he realized one of the flying weapons had sliced a length of rope that had been perfectly hidden behind him.

He wasn't even nearby when the dozen or so knives cut through the air before embedding on a tree-trunk. Instead, he had already anticipated the boy's attack and met him in mid-jump, surprising him a great deal judging by his widening eyes.

"What?" he asked him amused. "You thought I would have waited for you to come at me first?"

He parried Sasuke's first, panicked blow and just shoved him ten feet away with his palms. He could practically feel Naruto's restlessness from his hiding spot, but the boy stayed put. Kakashi had purposely given him and the kunoichi his back, but they didn't bulge from their position.

It was clear now that they were working together and that they had some sorts of plan, and a painfully obvious one at that. The duration of Kakashi's first attack was all the time it took him to spot the other traps, his trained and experienced eye moving almost on its own volition to the places any genin and chuunin would have thought about. It pleased the jounin to think the young ninja had understood the trick behind his little test, but being able to work as a team and doing it well enough to impress him were two very different things. Admittedly, he could have indulged them and played to their game, falling into the traps they had so carefully prepared and seeing where they brought him, but where was the fun in that? He wanted to see what they were capable of when their plans didn't survive the encounter with the enemy, like it often happened in the real world.

That would be his second lesson.

He looked down at Sasuke, ignoring everything else and practically daring Naruto and Sakura to take advantage of the situation. None of them took up the challenge, probably thinking their position too important or trusting Sasuke to complete his part of the plan alone.

Kakashi could only smile, wondering how long it would take him to change their mind on that. The answer was a whole minute, seeing as that much time had passed when Naruto finally jumped out of the bushes with a battle cry, having had enough of watching Sasuke's attacks fail. Every one of his attempts at taking a bell had been thwarted with such nonchalance that the dark-haired boy almost flinched whenever his searching hand was ruthlessly batted away.

Kakashi had to admit that the Uchiha's taijutsu was very, very good. He would have probably risked losing a bell if the genin had attacked him first. Now, though, it was completely impossible. He was too aware and, frankly speaking, wary of the members of Team 7 to let his guard down. Naruto had seen to that. His Icha Icha had long been hidden in his pocket, safely away from dangerous bolts of lightning and unpredictable clones. The jounin subtly caressed it with his fingers just to make sure it was still there.

"Need a hand, Teme?" the blond huffed with a concentrated expression as he started with a flying kick aimed at Kakashi's sternum. The jounin twisted sideways and let the boy soar through the air until his unprotected back was in front of him. He pushed his palms out intending to shove the boy to the other side of the clearing, but the unrelenting Sasuke deflected the hit and forced him to parry a left round-kick.

"Shut up, Dobe," the Uchiha then said, spinning around and trying a right kick. Kakashi ducked under it but had to jump backwards to avoid Naruto's punch.

Feeling in a good and lenient mood, Kakashi feigned surprise and let himself be driven back a little by the pair of genin, going as far as letting Sasuke's fingers brush against the bells at his wait, making them tinkle nicely and the dark-haired boy's eyes sparkle with eagerness. The duo acted well enough together, and spurred by the jounin's… _struggling_, tenaciously continued the attack.

Kakashi only landed a hit at that juncture and it was simply in order to make sure the one he was fighting now was _really_ the _real_ Naruto. When the boy didn't just dispel after his light punch but instead replied in kind – or tried to anyway – the man had to refrain from smiling.

A minute later, he allowed them to push him to a trap. Dodging that led to another one, and another after that. The masked ninja found himself unbalanced and under Naruto's attack and it was only by dropping to the ground and kicking the blond with both his feet that he managed not to be hit for the first time that day. Of course, he was left in an even more impractical position after that and it was exactly what the genin had been waiting for.

Rushing through seals with unexpected speed, Sasuke took a deep breath and then raised his hand to his mouth. Kakashi knew what was coming and did what they were expecting him to. A simple Kawarimi later, he had appeared right where they wanted him to appear. For a moment, he saw Sakura's concentrated face in front of him as she completed her seals before he vanished again.

The girl's genjutsu, meant to confuse and nauseate him probably long enough for her to take the bells, simply hit the ground while she looked open-mouthed at the empty air. Sasuke too stared for a long second before looking left, right and up in alarm.

"Below you," Kakashi said lightly and his hand sprang out from the rock beneath the genin and gripped his left ankle. "Doton! Shinjuu Zanshu no jutsu!"

When the boy was buried neck-deep underground a second later, the masked man surfaced again and just jumped up to Sakura who practically kicked blindly in his direction.

"Too slow, Pinky," he said, easily dodging the blow and bringing his hands up to form a seal. "Magen! Narakumi no jutsu!"

There was a moment of silence and then the pink-haired girl turned around in surprise before shrieking horribly and fainting. Uhm… maybe he had exaggerated a little…

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted after her high-pitched scream, slowly starting to get up again after Kakashi's blow. "What did you do to her?"

The jounin didn't answer. Instead, he rounded on the wobbling blond, easily parrying his desperate punch before chanting, "Konoha Senpu!"

It wasn't like him to just shout the names of every technique he used a split second before using them, but he guessed this would get the point across better than anything else. When he was the only one left standing inside the clearing, he just dusted his cloths off before turning to Sasuke, or better his head, who was eyeing him with mixed feelings of wonder and anger.

"Ninjutsu, Genjutsu and Taijutsu," he said with a smile. "The three main arts of a shinobi. There are many more, but these are the basic ones. This is the third lesson of the day."

Naruto groaned from the ground before rolling carefully on his back. Kakashi glanced at him a moment before walking lazily to where Sakura had passed out. A murmured "Kai," was all it took to free her from the genjutsu and slowly make her wake up.

From the training ground nearby, the alarm clock he had set upon the wooden stumps rang brightly. All three genin looked up at that, Sakura managing to shake the dizziness off her eyes.

"Time's up," Kakashi said patting his side. "And the bells are still here. You fail."

There was shock on the genin's features, although for a different reason for Sakura.

"Sasuke-kun!" the pink-haired girl shouted, scrambling to her feet before stopping suddenly. "Oh… genjutsu…"

Naruto sat up and looked at her and then at Kakashi, shock leaving place to confusion on his face.

"What? We fail? But we-"

"You got the point of the test, yes," the silver-haired man interrupted him. "It was designed to make you fight amongst yourselves and act alone instead of as a team. But you saw the trick. You saw underneath the underneath like a ninja should always do. You worked together to get the bells but you didn't. You only partly succeeded in the test." There was a meaningful pause after that as Kakashi leaned forward with a smile. "That's the only reason why I'll give you one more chance. But after lunch I'll make it even tougher to get the bells."

The genin gulped almost contemporarily, as a team you could say, looking at each other with worry on their faces. Soon, though, a glint of determination started glimmering in their eyes and they turned to Kakashi again. The masked man refrained from smiling, opting to look lazy instead. He had been tempted to pass them right away, but wanted to see something else first.

"Those who can get to the stumps on their own can eat the lunch I brought," he said brightly.

"What about Sasuke?" Sakura asked hesitantly, glancing at the dark-haired boy's head sticking out of the ground.

"If you can't walk to the lunch then you don't deserve it," the jounin said, suddenly sounding harsh. "If anyone gives him food or helps him out of there, they will fail immediately and be sent to the Academy, no more chances. I'm the rules, here. Got it?"

He didn't even wait for them to answer. After a dangerous glare, he jumped away and out of sight. He stayed nearby, though, observing from a hidden spot what would happen. Sakura dropped her head depressed, while Naruto frowned a little.

"I will be free in no time, anyway," Sasuke commented eventually, wriggling underground and struggling to get his hands on his kunai pouch.

Naruto looked at him strangely for a moment and seemed to come to a decision. After casting suspicious looks around, he grinned mischievously and walked up to him.

"Damn, Teme, you're useless," he said crouching down with a kunai in hand. He started digging around him under his fellow genin's glare.

"Dobe, stop it! I'll do it alone!" the dark-haired boy snapped. "Didn't you hear what Kakashi said?"

"Well, he's not here now, is he?" the blond barked back. "And stop being so stuck-up! I'm trying to help you!"

After hesitating for an instant, Sakura took a kunai of her own and started mirroring Naruto.

"I don't need your help!" Sasuke protested angrily.

"Well, you have it anyway," Naruto replied. "So shut up!"

Kakashi had seen enough. He jumped out of his hiding spots, raising as many leaves and dust he could and sporting the most terrifying expression he could come up with.

"You guys…" he growled dangerously before smiling suddenly, "pass."

Silence descended on the clearing for a couple of seconds as Sakura and Naruto stayed frozen with their kunai raised in a defensive stance, two identical expressions of shock and fright on their faces. Then the blond blinked his eyes and the pink-haired kunoichi took a long and shuddering breath.

"P-pass?" she stammered. "But why? The bells…"

"I never expected three genin like you to be able to get the bells from me," he explained. "The test was just intended to see if you could overcome the difficulties and work together, as well as to assess your individual skills, of course. Naruto," he said and the blond blinked, "you acted intelligently by sending a clone in reconnaissance and worked pretty well with your clones. Sasuke, just like Naruto, you already have a pretty good offensive ninjutsu and your taijutsu is well above the level of a freshly appointed genin. Pinky…" he continued before pausing and resuming in a softer voice. "Sakura… I can't assess your physical prowess for you didn't take part in the actual fights, but the genjutsu you tried to hit me with was much more impressive than Academy level ones. I also understand that the traps around the clearing and the plan to attack me after my Kawarimi were your doing, right?"

The girl gulped hesitantly before shaking her head. "Only some of the traps were mine and the last idea was Naruto's."

Kakashi, surprised, turned to the blond to his left who only shrugged a little self-consciously.

"During my Kage Bunshin attacks, I noticed that all the three times you used Kawarimi to escape, you targeted the nearest log to you," he explained. "I thought that by forcing you to use the technique and by knowing where you would have ended up, we could have caught you with your pants down."

"That was a repeated pattern I voluntarily showed you exactly for that," the jounin explained. "To trick you into thinking you could exploit that seemingly predictable behaviour of mine. A false weakness, if you like," he added when it seemed Naruto wasn't getting it. "I literally disseminated the test with such things. Sasuke even tried to take advantage of some of them during our fight… probably unconsciously judging by his surprised expression." He smiled at the quickly recomposing boy before turning to the blond genin once again. "In those instances, you just looked underneath the situation and stopped there. You didn't look underneath the underneath. It's not so easy to do that, though, not so young anyway. You'll get there with time."

"They were all tricks," Naruto suddenly said, unsure whether to feel disappointed or awed. "The whole test was a trick!"

The silver-haired man frowned. "It may be _tricky_ to get to the point of the test, but that didn't make it a trick. The important teaching remains," he said seriously. "Teamwork makes you better. It's as simple as that." He looked down to the boy partly trapped underground and asked, "Sasuke, have you ever been close to get a bell during the test?"

The Uchiha, still surreptitiously trying to free himself, stopped his discreet wriggling and frowned. "Once," he said.

"When was it?"

"When the Dobe and I were attacking together."

"Hey!" Naruto protested, but Kakashi ignored him.

"That's right," the jounin agreed. "You were even able to touch them. Had you managed that before?"

The dark-haired boy just shook his head.

"That didn't happen by chance," Kakashi continued at that point. "It was yours and Naruto's skills combined that gave you that opportunity. _Teamwork_ is the key to resolve a situation a shinobi alone can't hope to resolve. Of course, superior individual ability is important to a ninja, but it _pales_ when compared to teamwork." He stared at his genin intently. "Becoming the greatest kunoichi, becoming Hokage… even killing a _certain_ man… they will all be easier to achieve with the help of your team. Believe me."

Naruto smiled brightly at that, almost dreamily, while Sasuke just looked pensive. Sakura, instead, seemed to think carefully before speaking up in the silence that followed.

"May I ask you a question, Sensei?" she asked hesitantly and continued at his nod. "Why are you passing us now? Why not before, when the alarm clock rang? I mean… what was that scary behaviour all about?"

Kakashi just smiled at her.

"You guys are the first to act as you did when I threatened you about not freeing Sasuke. Every other team I had been assigned just did whatever I told and I failed them. They were all just morons."

He leaned back after that, and a short string of hand-seals later, the ground shook all around Sasuke before elevating him to freedom. The boy straightened his back and rolled his shoulders once, putting his dirty kunai away and eyeing the jounin warily. He tried to dust himself off, but his cloths and skin were too covered in mud and soil for that.

Kakashi's smile grew larger and then sadder at the sight of what was known throughout the whole village and outside as _the last Uchiha_.

"Those who break the rules and codes of the ninja world are called trash…" he resumed, stepping back a few feet just as his mind did a few years into the past. "But you know what? Those who don't care about their teammates are lower than trash."

The man enjoyed Naruto's awed look for a second more before doing something he had always been temped to do in the past, something he would later swear to death he never did.

He tried Gai's nice-guy pose.

He tried it without the annoying wink, though. And the creepy smile. And the ridiculous hair-cut. He practically took all Gai off his pose.

Needless to say, it came out cooler.

"That ends the training. All of you pass!" he commented finally. "Starting tomorrow, Team 7 will begin its duties!"

Much cheering followed the declaration as Naruto and Sakura shouted their joy, while Sasuke just looked slightly happier. Kakashi started walking away, gesturing for them to come with him.

"Let's get back to the stumps now, and eat some lunch. Why are your stomachs all growling, anyway?" he asked innocently.

As Naruto sputtered indignantly, the jounin smiled to himself.

He had passed them. He had passed a team.

Looking on as Pinky, the Dobe and the Teme – God, they sounded like a bad animated movie – bantered between each other, Hatake Kakashi couldn't help but wonder if his decision wouldn't just come back to bite him in the ass.


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

* * *

With the umpteenth puff of smoke, the last Shadow clone disappeared from the wooded area, leaving only the original Naruto under the afternoon sun. The blond genin was breathing quickly and wiping the sweat off his brow, while wondering if he had ever felt this tired before. This all-against-one thingy was one hell of a training.

Fighting against fifty Kage Bunshin had turned out to be much more difficult than he had first thought. He discovered that as soon as the clones had started attacking, one second after he had given the order. In an instant, Naruto had found himself overwhelmed by the sheer number of Bunshin and not really understanding much except that he was being manhandled badly. He had immediately cried out for them to stop after that and, nursing a bleeding lip, he commented that maybe going with a lower number or a softer approach was in order. They had selected the latter eventually, but the blond had still been brought to his limits by the fast pace. The only thing keeping him from being beat to death had probably been the clones' duration - the fact they only lasted until you hit them was a huge drawback in his opinion.

Outside of battle, though, there really was no limit to the technique. It was the most useful and practical jutsu he had ever heard of, much less known of. The Kyuubi had been helpful on this matter too, often pointing out new ways he could use Shadow clones to improve his skills or even his everyday life. During missions, the Kage Bunshin turned out to be life-savers.

Or better, bore-savers.

When Kakashi-sensei told him they would start their ninja duties, Naruto didn't think he was talking about _those_. Picking up groceries, weeding gardens, repairing fences… the blond hadn't expected any of those _duties_ to be part of his life, especially not after becoming a shinobi. But now he would have to get used to them, because no matter how much he protested, as a genin – and a freshly appointed one at that – he could only be assigned these boring-kill-me-now D-Rank missions, and that was it, according to both Kakashi, Iruka and the Hokage.

Still, if he knew himself a little, he was going to explode sooner or later. There was no way he could endure this kind of things for long, and he told Kakashi so after a particularly terrible mission. At those words, the man had only smiled in his eerie and creepy way and assured him things would get worse.

That sentence had left Naruto baffled. What was worse than unclogging the stinking toilet of a decrepit old man? Surely, nothing…

But the doubt had been instilled in his mind anyway, just like pretty much every time his silver-haired sensei opened his mouth. The man was, simply put, a walking enigma. It seemed like everything he said could be interpreted in more than one way, and the most obscure one was usually the _right_ one. It was irritating for Naruto who never was one to think deeply into others' words or actions, but it was also… awe-inspiring seeing just how far Kakashi could push himself and most of all his genin towards a secret and hidden teaching.

The Kyuubi had been helpful in these instances as well, just like Sakura and, incredibly enough, Sasuke. The three genin of the team had, in fact, started cooperating in more than just missions, and unmasking their sensei's words was one of them. They often questioned each other about what Kakashi could have meant by saying or doing something, or whenever one of them thought they had unraveled one of his mysteries, they told the others about it.

It had started almost by chance when Sakura first approached her two teammates the second day of duties, voicing her suspicions about Kakashi's previous order. In the next days, those situations recurred more often and it practically became a habit for them to share their thoughts about their sensei's hidden meanings.

Naruto honestly thought that they were starting to overdo it. Seeing underneath the underneath was one thing – seeing a secret teaching behind every single action or word was another. Surely Kakashi couldn't plan his every move in advance just to make sure everything his students learnt was born from an effort on their parts… right?

And yet, he had to wonder. The man seemed to look at them in a different way when they acted on their suspicions, almost as if he was pleased or sometimes surprised. Unfortunately, straight, non-enigmatic comments proving their doubts right were very, very rare, unlike during the bell test. Once become his genin, they apparently had to sweat – and profusely – to gain just about anything, from praises to explanations, which were now kept to a minimum.

But Naruto was used to that, and to worse. The Academy had seen to that.

He didn't care, anyway. He knew he was getting better and that was enough for him. His spars with the Kage Bunshin were improving his taijutsu and his two Materia were both impressive ninjutsu. And he would get more of them.

Naruto frowned as his mind drifted to the girl who still had his Ice Materia. More than a week had passed since he first met Tenten in her secret forge under the commercial district, and, as agreed, he had gone back to meet her to get his brand new holster. Unfortunately, the secret passage had been closed and blocked and no one inside had answered to his knocking or whispering. Naruto had gathered that the girl wasn't around and settled for leaving a clone to keep an eye on the alley until she got back.

But she didn't.

Two days had passed now, and there had still been no sign of Tenten. The Kyuubi was already starting to get angry and snappy about it, insinuating that he had been tricked and suggesting he went after the girl to get back his Materia by any means. Naruto didn't listen to him. He wasn't so easy to distrust people despite his admittedly… _unlucky_ past in that regard, and just reasoned that Tenten had been distracted or kept busy by something else. She was a ninja herself, after all… maybe she had been called for a long-term mission or something. The reasons could be many others.

He wasn't going to panic just yet.

'Naïve' the Kyuubi had called him, amidst a lot of other _more_ _endearing_ epithets, but again, Naruto didn't care.

Wiping the frown off his face, the blond stood up from his seated position, his breath finally calm and steady after his tiring workout. He stretched his back with a contented sigh and started recovering the weapons scattered all around. That was something else he could buy from Tenten if the holster didn't result too expensive for his Gama-chan. His current kunai and shuriken were so worn they almost didn't stick to tree-trunks when he threw them. Oh, well… they were cheap ones to begin with…

He was simply looking around to check if he had missed something when he felt it – a weak, feeble pull to the north.

Another Materia.

He stayed still for the first few seconds, puzzled as to why he had sensed it so suddenly. It wasn't like he had moved much further from the clearing he had previously used as a battleground… just a few feet… maybe he had simply been too distracted to notice, he thought, but that too seemed very strange. The fact that the presence of the Materia had appeared suddenly and not gradually was-

"What the hell?" he let out incredulously.

The Materia… it was gone! As suddenly as it had appeared, its presence had simply vanished from his senses as if it had never been there. What the hell did it mean?

'_Hey Fox,_' he started hesitantly. '_Did you feel it?_'

'_Ah, so YOU finally felt it, didn't you?_' was the Kyuubi's reply.

'_Well, I… I think so._' Naruto frowned, puzzled. '_Did it just disappear? Just like that?_'

'_Yeah. It's been doing that all week, popping up for a minute or so before going back to wherever it was._'

The blond made a noncommittal sound at that. '_So this is why you insisted I trained around here, in the outskirts near the northern gate,_' he said after a moment of insight. '_You wanted me near enough to sense it._'

'_Yeah, and it took you only a week to do it,_' the Demon replied sarcastically.

Naruto ignored his tone, opting for an annoyed one instead. '_Why didn't you just tell me?_'

'_For the same reason why I didn't tell you about the Materia at the Hokage tower and won't tell you about any other I sense in the future,_' the bijuu said seriously. '_It's something you have to do on your own. You can't rely on me for that._'

Naruto blinked his eyes quizzically. '_Why not? It's not like you're going anywhere._'

The Kyuubi growled dangerously. '_Thanks for reminding me. Indeed, I won't leave your side anytime soon. But we can't say the same in regards to your Kage Bunshin, can we?_'

'_That's right!_' Naruto shouted inside his head, finally comprehending. '_My clones don't get your annoying comments every time, every day because you don't get cloned!_'

The Demon decided to ignore the 'annoying' part. '_Exactly. So if you ever sent a Kage Bunshin around and he stumbled upon a Materia, he wouldn't even notice, not being proficient in sensing it._'

'_Okay, I get it._' The young genin nodded seriously. '_I guess it's important then. I could even train myself about it,_' he mused out loud.'_Maybe sending clones around the Village with their own cloned Materia and then trying to find them. Something like hide-and-seek._'

'_Good idea. Widening your perceiving range should be really useful. But let's save it for later._' The bijuu's deep voice sounded eager. '_Now that you finally noticed it, it's time to find this elusive Materia of ours._'

'_Yeah, but it disappeared,_' Naruto pointed out unhelpfully. '_I can't feel it now._'

'_Neither can I,_' the Kyuubi admitted. '_Let's just start by taking a look around the general area where we sensed it. We might get lucky._'

They did get lucky, although more than half an hour later. Naruto was checking a large group of bushes in what he considered the Materia's general direction when it suddenly appeared again on his senses. His head snapped up to the north and a second later he was already sprinting at the top of his speed.

He stopped feeling its presence way before arriving to the northern gate, which stared imposingly down at him with its closed doors, but he noticed a small group of his Kage Bunshin gathered nearby. There were six of them, but right as he stepped up to their little huddle, one of them burst out in a cloud of smoke and passed his memories down to him.

The original Naruto blinked owlishly before speaking up, startling the other clones who had yet to notice he was behind them.

"I'm right here."

"Whoa, boss!" a Bunshin said in surprise, turning around and bringing a hand up to his chest. "Are you trying to dispel us by heart-attack?"

Naruto grinned. "Maybe. So, what's up?"

Another clone shook his head. "You should know. We just forced suicide on one of us to inform you." He raised his arm to point to his left anyway. "I got here first. The Materia's right over there."

The original blond scrunched his eyes a little, staring hard at the outer wall of Konoha and at the evident stone stuck high on it. "Isn't it… uhm… blue?"

The Kage Bunshin exchanged some uneasy looks. "We think so, yeah…" one said uncertainly.

"Strange," Naruto commented as he continued to look up at the clearly blue spot on the otherwise grey wall.

"We thought you could have asked the Kyuubi about it," another clone offered.

Naruto nodded at the suggestion but hadn't even started speaking mentally to his tenant that the Fox immediately piped in.

'_I'm not deaf,_' he commented idly. '_Don't need to repeat yourself. Sorta._' There was a somewhat awkward pause before the bijuu resumed. '_Anyway, I don't really know why the Materia is blue instead of green, but I can guess. It probably has something to do with its powers._'

Naruto immediately started reporting what was being said in the silent conversation, leaving out the useless parts, of course. '_What do you mean?_' he then asked the Kyuubi.

'_I mean it will probably have a different use than the two… or better the _one,_ we already have._'

Naruto ignored the barb at what the Demon considered his naiveté regarding Tenten. He was getting good at that kind of things thanks to all the practice his annoying tenant forced on him.

"How different?" one of the clones wanted to know after being told the bijuu's reply.

'_I don't know yet. Maybe it's its effect, or even its inner workings,_' the Kyuubi said. '_We won't know until we try._'

"Maybe it has something to do with why it suddenly appears and disappears from our senses," the original Naruto reasoned pensively, but his own clones shook their heads.

"Wrong, boss," one said, nodding towards the gates. "I was already here when it happened. Just when the doors closed after letting in a caravan of merchants, I couldn't feel the Materia anymore."

"Really?"

"Yeah," another Bunshin agreed. "The Materia can only be sensed when the gate is open. And it can't be a coincidence. Or at least, we don't think so."

"Hmmm…" Naruto murmured noncommittally before shrugging. "Anyway… who cares? Let's just get our hands on it."

Silence followed the declaration as everyone present just looked up at the Materia stuck high on the wall. Really, really high.

"Well," the original blond said hesitantly. "Let's give it a try at least…"

The next ten minutes were spent in various attempts, some more ridiculous than others, to actually _get_ to the Materia. More than a hundred of Shadow clones' lives ended in those ten minutes. When a pyramid of Kage Bunshin fell down dispelling everyone, Naruto shook his head in annoyance. He had tried everything he could think of with embarrassing results, only useful to give the watching Kyuubi some good laughs.

"What can we do?" he whispered in frustration and could only jump in fright when an unexpected voice answered him from behind.

"The real question is another one."

Turning around, the startled genin just stared with wide eyes at the man leaning against a tree-trunk. He had brown hair and sharp eyes, and though he was facing Naruto almost completely, the orange-clad boy could see that what he at first thought was a bandanna, in reality was a Leaf head-protector. The ninja, a jounin from the look of things, leaned forward a little, the senbon in his mouth switching from one corner to the other.

"What _exactly_ are you trying to do?"

Naruto's eyes shifted around with uneasiness. "Uhm... nothing?" he half-asked and the other rolled his eyes.

"Please," the shinobi said in a bored tone. "At least your first attempts were somewhat subtle. I can't say the same about that circus number just now. We could see and hear the ruckus all the way from the gate."

"They weren't so loud..." the blond protested weakly, earning a look of disbelief from the brown-haired ninja.

"Are you kidding me?" he retorted. "My ears are still ringing for all the yells and the puffing sounds!"

The orange-clad genin frowned slightly before conceding the point. "Okay, okay... maybe they were a little noisy. But I would like to hear _you_ during the fall of a human pyramid, Senbon-guy!" he commented pointedly.

The newcomer seemed to think it over before actually answering. "I don't think I would ever take part to a human-pyramid, but I get your point. Still... you never answered my question," he continued, growing away from the tree and taking a step in the genin's direction. "What were you trying to do?"

Naruto looked down at his feet in an annoyed fashion. "I was trying to reach the top of the wall."

"You weren't trying to escape the Village," the man stated with certainty and Naruto grumbled something under his breath. "What was that?"

"I said," the boy repeated in a louder voice, "that would have been far easier."

The jounin nodded his head. "Considering how many clones you used, you could have climbed to and over the top easily enough. Instead, you were trying to create a somewhat stable position somewhere beneath it, am I right?" When the genin just nodded, the man narrowed his eyes. "Why?"

Naruto raised his chin defiantly and glared slightly at the shinobi. "There's something mine stuck on the wall. And I want it."

The jounin just raised an eyebrow both at the boy's words and at his display of defiance. His senbon rolled to the other corner of his mouth.

"That's impossible," he said eventually, after staring the genin down. "An ANBU team checks it regularly. It actually did that just a couple of minutes before you started throwing Shadow clones all over the place. Whatever you lost, it's not stuck on the wall."

Naruto scowled. "ANBU can't see it," he said hotly before amending hesitantly, "... from... down here."

The man snorted lightly. "There's no down here, boy. They check the wall thoroughly while on it."

Now the orange-clad ninja was confused. "While on it? What do you mean?" he asked, and the jounin looked at him skeptically.

"When I saw you earlier, I thought you just _couldn't_ do the tree-climbing exercise. But I see you don't even _know_ about it." He rolled his eyes, while going over to a nearby trunk and climbing it up to show what he was talking about to the now stunned genin. "Really... what does the Academy teach these days?"

Naruto was ecstatic and wide-eyed. "Wow! How do you do that?" he asked breathlessly, witnessing as the man walked up and down the tree as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

The brown-haired ninja finally jumped down to the ground to face him. "With chakra," he said simply before shooting a look in the gate's direction. He moved the senbon in his mouth left and right before speaking up again. "I better go back to the post now. They pay me to guard it, after all. But I can teach you if you come with me."

"Really?" the blond asked at once, his blue eyes even wider. "Would you do that?"

"Why not?" The man shrugged before grumbling under his breath. "It's not like I'm overburdened by work anyway."

He turned around and walked calmly out of the woods. Naruto followed him excitedly, almost skipping around like a happy puppy. When they arrived to the gate, another shinobi looked at them with a curious expression on his face as he stood at the side of the big doors, now closed.

"Hello," the man greeted Naruto weakly before coughing once. He was really, really pale, or maybe, the dark bags under his sunken eyes just gave that impression. He smiled feebly at the boy before giving his attention back to his fellow guard. "So... what was he up to, Genma-san?"

The brown-haired ninja, or Genma, Naruto guessed, shrugged his shoulders. "He says there's something he wants stuck on the wall. I took pity of him and his pathetic attempts at reaching it and decided to teach him the tree-climbing exercise."

The other man chuckled lightly while the genin sputtered indignantly. "Very nice of you."

"But I'm hopeless with kids," Genma continued, "so you're going to lend me a hand, Hayate."

Said Hayate coughed twice before turning to the blond genin. "I guess it's very nice of me too, then. I'm Gekkou Hayate, pleased to meet you."

The orange-clad ninja didn't let this chance pass. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, the future Hokage of Konoha," he shouted while pointing at himself with his right thumb and grinning. "Believe it."

Genma didn't quite roll his eyes, but his skeptic expression earned him a light scowl from the boy.

"I'll believe it when I see it," he commented idly.

"You'll see that soon, Senbon-guy!"

The man sighed while Hayate just raised his eyebrows. He coughed once.

"Senbon-guy?"

"I think he has a thing for lame nicknames," the brown-haired shinobi explained, this time rolling his eyes alright. "I'm surprised he still didn't call you Sicko-san or something."

The sick-looking ninja coughed again as if to make a point while Naruto nodded thoughtfully.

"That's a good one," he said.

"Now," Genma resumed, making it clear he wanted the topic to change. "Let's start the lesson. First thing first: why do you want to learn the tree-climbing exercise?"

"In order to walk up that wall and get what's mine?" the blond genin said as if it was obvious.

"Wrong, there's nothing stuck there, I already told you," the brown-haired jounin corrected, ignoring Naruto's scowl. "And even if there was something, that would only be the short-term benefit of tree-climbing. If you consider long-term gains, instead, the exercise offers you invaluable help. Traveling, for example, makes mastering the exercise pretty much a necessity for a shinobi. You will rarely travel at ground level when on a mission outside Konoha. You will instead stick to the branches of the trees or even on rooftops when in other towns." Genma made sure the genin was following before continuing. "Then there's your stamina. By using the chakra needed to practice the exercise, your reserves will slowly but steadily increase. Now, judging by how many clones you were spamming before, I guess you have lots already, but it's never enough, isn't it?"

"Yeah!" Naruto cheered. "I'll be even more awesome!"

The brown-haired ninja ignored the boy's interruption before resuming. "But ultimately, you want to learn it for chakra control."

"Chakra control?"

"Yes," Hayate piped in with a small smile. "There's a reason why it is an _exercise_."

"Exactly," Genma agreed. "Practicing tree-climbing is one of the most effective basic training methods to get better in controlling your chakra."

"Why?" the young genin asked curiously.

"Because it consists in gathering the exact amount of energy to one's feet, which are said to be the less sensitive body parts when it comes to chakra." The sick-looking man smiled down at him. "That means it may be difficult. Are you up to it?"

The blond looked affronted. "You bet I am!"

"Then stop wasting time," the brown-haired shinobi said, clapping his hands once. "Get to it."

With a fierce look on his face, Uzumaki Naruto ran towards the wall and jumped on it… only to fall back down on his head a short second later.

"Uhm, Genma," Hayate commented while Naruto grabbed his nape in pain. "Maybe you should have made him try a seal to better call up the chakra?"

The ninja looked at the boy rolling wildly on the ground dispassionately.

"Right."

* * *

Two nights later, Uzumaki Naruto woke up to a deep voice echoing inside his head.

'_There's someone in the room._'

The blond blinked his eyes twice before almost jumping away from the bed when the words finally sank in. He then looked around in alarm and easily spotted the clone standing warily a few feet from him.

"Calm down, Boss," the Kage Bunshin said soothingly, shifting his eyes to the kunai in Naruto's hands. The genin hadn't even noticed he had pulled it out.

"Wha-" He tried to say but had to stop in order to swallow the lump in his throat. Damn, he felt groggy alright. It wasn't very nice to wake up like that. He glanced at the window and saw it was still completely dark outside. "What time is it? What's happening?"

"Well," the Shadow clone started hesitantly, "it's probably three in the morning. Maybe later. We tried to wake you up by dispelling one… well, two of us, but apparently their memories weren't enough."

Naruto nodded vaguely and yawned tiredly. "What happened?" he asked in a barely comprehensible growl as he lazily stretched his spine, putting the kunai away.

"Uhm… aren't those memories coming to you?"

The blond stopped suddenly, almost freezing in his awkward position before lowering his arms again.

"No," he said perplexed. "That's strange."

"Maybe that doesn't work when you're asleep," the clone suggested quietly. "Another Bunshin should have dispelled himself just about now. I actually thought you had woken up that suddenly for that reason, but I guess it was probably my fault…" He frowned harshly. "Was I really that noisy?"

"No, uhm, well, I don't think so," the original Naruto said hesitantly. "It was the Kyuubi who woke me up. He told me someone was in the room."

'_Speaking of which, how did you know?_'

The Demon snorted before answering. '_I heard him. He actually _was_ that noisy._'

'_But how did you hear him?_' The young genin insisted, while raising a hand up to stall the clone in front of him from speaking.

'_Remember our conversation with the Hokage? The one about my awareness of the outside world while being inside of you? I said I can see what you see and hear what you hear, if you recall._' The bijuu snorted again before resuming. '_Of course, all I see is blackness when your eyes are closed – I would have known the intruder was your clone if that hadn't been the case and I wouldn't have warned you at that point – but I can always listen to our surroundings, even when you sleep. It's not like you close your ears or anything._'

Naruto nodded his head at the explanation but still looked curious. '_What about when _you_ sleep?_'

There was a long pause before the reply. '_I never slept once since I was imprisoned in here._'

'_Oh… why not?_'

'_I don't know, I just can't,_' the Kyuubi said in a somewhat subdued tone. '_It's one of the things I miss the most._'

The blond didn't really know what to say to that, so he just lowered his arm and focused on the Kage Bunshin patiently waiting for the silent conversation to finish.

"So?" Said Bunshin asked interestedly.

Naruto shrugged. "He says he heard you."

"Okay," the other said with the tone of someone who had expected more. He shrugged his shoulders as well before grinning excitedly. "Anyway, we got it down!"

"What?"

"We got it down!" the Bunshin repeated animatedly. "The tree-climbing exercise! We got it down!"

Naruto was about to say something but then closed his mouth as his brow furrowed. "Why are you talking normally, then? This is something you should shout and cheer about. The whole neighborhood should wake up with a start for your yells."

The clone tilted his head to the side, looking as if he hadn't even thought about that. A second later, he let out a loud whoop of joy. "Hell yeah! We got it down!"

"Yeah!" the original blond shouted back, now fully awake and grinning. He pumped a fist in the air and then high-fived his own copy. "Now, that's better! Nice!"

The Kage Bunshin chuckled a little. "Yeah, we thought you would have liked to know it immediately. Maybe even tried to take the Materia right away."

Naruto nodded after a moment of consideration. "Let me get changed first, though," he said, discarding his pajama bottoms at once.

He finished dressing five minutes later and immediately jumped after his departing clone. They ran through the desert streets of the Village and the dark woods preceding the northern gate, safely keeping to the shadows of the night out of habit. When they eventually got to the gate, another dozen or so Narutos were running up and down the outer wall of Konoha under the mildly amused gaze of the two doors' guards standing nearby.

"Boss!" one of the clones shouted as soon as he saw him. "We did it!"

The orange clad ninja finally stopped in front of them. "I can see that."

"It's amazing!" another clone cheered jumping down with a slight grimace. "A little tiring after a while, though."

Naruto grinned excitedly at that. "I really can't wait to try it! Come on, guys, pop out of my way. I need your memories."

There was a moment of confused silence.

"Didn't you get three sets already?" one particularly puzzled Kage Bunshin eventually asked, but Naruto shook his head.

"Nope. I was asleep when those clones dispelled and have no recollection of your night whatsoever."

"Oh," was everyone's disappointed reply. Before disappearing with white puffs of smoke, though, all the Bunshin turned to the two ninja nearby with happy smiles. They thanked them profusely and honestly one by one, even though some weren't exactly coming off as very polite, all with the "Sicko-san!" and "Senbon-guy!" they were yelling.

Naruto grinned widely as the newly acquired information streamed inside his head.

"Bunch of brats…" he heard Genma murmuring under his breath.

"Did they behave?" the blond genin asked him innocently.

"Pretty much like you would have, I suspect," was the dry/plain/ answer. "You got their memories this time around, right?"

"Yep. I don't know why it didn't happen while I was sleeping."

"Maybe you simply treated those memories like dreams," Hayate suggested reasonably, "and forgot about them when you woke up."

"It's possible," Genma admitted. "I don't know all that much about the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."

"Bah! Who cares? I didn't come here in the middle of the night to talk about that!" Naruto said eagerly, turning to the outer wall of Konoha.

"Give it a try, then."

Tree, or better wall-climbing turned out to be even easier than what his clones' memories suggested. The young blond ran up and down the smooth, vertical surface without any problem for several minutes, applying the necessary chakra as if he had done that his whole life. He even experimented with some long jumps or slides of sorts by altering the amount of energy used, and found out he had a good grasp of those as well. It was fun, and when he jumped down back to the ground and in front of the two gates' guards, he couldn't help but grin happily in their direction.

"You're pretty good, Naruto," Hayate commented with a cough.

"Yeah," Genma agreed. "It's surprising. From the first few tries yesterday, I thought it would have taken you a week, maybe two, to really learn the exercise. But I guess that using several Kage Bunshin to train cut down that time significantly."

"Yeah, I'm awesome!" the young genin said cheerily, pumping a fist in the air. "Now I can finally take the Materia."

"The what?"

"The thing I was talking about," Naruto explained. "You know, the one stuck on the wall."

"And what would that be exactly?" Genma asked with his brow furrowed.

"You'll see," was the mysterious answer.

And with that, the blond ninja dashed up the wall and to the right. The two shinobi left on the ground exchanged a dubious look before the brown-haired one let out a weary sigh.

"I'll go after him."

Genma easily caught up with Naruto after a few seconds, agilely flanking him to where the boy was headed. They came to a stop a few feet from the top of the wall, more or less across the thick bushes from where the genin had tried his pyramid of Kage Bunshin the day before.

"Here it is!" the blond said excitedly, staring down at the portion of wall in front of his feet.

Genma actually crouched down to take a closer look.

"What are you talking about?"

Naruto glanced at him before rolling his eyes. "Right. You can't see it."

"I can't see what?"

"The Materia!" the boy said, pulling a kunai out of his holster and using it to point at some sort of circular crack on the otherwise smooth wall. "It's a… let's say a sphere, stuck right here."

Genma peered at it even more attentively, and he had to admit that the part the boy was currently poking with his kunai did look slightly different than the rest. It was a lighter shade of grey and seemed less… raw compared to the porous quality of the surface around it. Could it be that… could it be that Naruto was right about it?

The thought completely flew away from his head when the boy started chiseling at the wall a second later.

"Fuck!" the man cursed, stopping Naruto's arm at once. A small piece of rock tumbled down to the far-away ground. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Let go!" the blond protested, trying to free his arm. "I'm taking it! That's what I'm doing! Let go!"

"No way! You're coming with me!"

A few seconds later, the pair was back to the ground again, standing in front of Hayate. Genma finally freed Naruto from his grasp and scowled at him. The genin scowled back, sputtering indignantly in the meantime.

Hayate's cough interrupted the glowering contest for a moment. "Uhm… what happened?"

"He tried to kill himself and my ninja career with a kunai," Genma said dryly, the senbon in his mouth rolling from one corner to the other repeatedly.

"What? I didn't!"

"Yes, you did. Do you know how dangerous the wall is?" The brown-haired ninja rounded on the angry genin. "There are seals carved on the other side that could literally blast most summon to pieces, and you just tried to dig down till them to find out what they do to a human body! Not to talk about what that could have done to the wards they enable, which are the main protection of the Village!"

The Kyuubi piped in with his deep voice at that. '_That would explain the Materia's strange trick of appearing and disappearing from our senses,_' he reasoned. '_The seals of the wall must hide its presence somehow, at least when the doors are closed. It has probably something to do with Master Takegawa's theorem about chakra circuits._'

Naruto frowned both at the Kyuubi and at Genma. "I don't know anything about all that, but I wasn't going to dig so deep, just a few inches. The wall looks as thick as hell to me, anyway."

"It is," Hayate confirmed, trying to calm the spirits down a little now that he had a fairly good understanding of what had happened. He sent an almost pleading look in his fellow jounin's direction before resuming. "But it's also quite dangerous. You must be extremely cautious when dealing with it."

"I was only trying to take what's mine!" the young blond whined, slightly mollified by the soft tone of the sick-looking shinobi. He turned belligerent again, though, as soon as his eyes shifted back to Genma. "And I will take that, be sure of it!"

"And we will try to help you as much as we can," Hayate replied soothingly. "But it would be easier if you actually told us what _that_ is."

Silence followed the request as Naruto mulled it over for some seconds. Then he reached inside his pocket and pulled his Materia out.

"This."

Genma blinked at it, his senbon stopping. The sphere in the boy's hand certainly looked similar in color and material to the portion of wall he had pointed at a few minutes before.

Hayate coughed.

"A rock?"

"It's not a rock," the young genin disagreed with annoyance.

"Then what is it?" he asked curiously.

Naruto opened his mouth to answer and then snapped it close.

"How old are you?" he asked Genma suspiciously a second later. "Sicko-san is obviously old enough, but I'm not sure about you…"

"Old enough for what?" the brown-haired ninja asked confusedly. He pointed at Hayate. "And he's younger than me, anyway."

"Really?" the blond made a double-take before scratching the back of his head. "Well, how old are you, then?"

A somewhat uneasy cough followed before Hayate's answer. "Uhm… Twenty-three."

Silence descended on the group as the young genin scrunched up his face in concentration. He held up his fingers and wriggled them a little in the usual motions of someone making a count. Then he nodded.

"All right! You're definitely old enough to know the law, then. You're like… three years older than Iruka, even!" He smiled conspiratorially and leaned a little towards the two. "Listen up, okay?"

* * *

An hour later, Naruto was holding his sparkling new Materia in tight fingers, marveling at its bright blue color. Genma and Hayate were both looking at him interestedly, together with the ANBU who had checked on him when he had carved the sphere out of the wall of Konoha. He was apparently the seal-expert of the team on patrol-duty that day, and after taking a look at the stonework, he had deemed it acceptable for Naruto to chisel around it… under his supervision, of course.

The young genin let out an excited breath before raising his arm. He pointed it in the general direction of a lonely bush nearby and called up chakra. Ten long seconds passed with no visible effect whatsoever. Not even the usual circle of green light appeared around him.

"Okay…" Genma commented eventually. "A bit less impressive than the bolt of lightning falling from the sky, but-"

"Shut-up, Senbon-guy!" Naruto shouted in irritation, finally lowering his arm and turning toward them. "I'm trying to focus!"

"It was instantaneous the other time, though," the brown-haired ninja continued with a smirk. He liked to ruffle the brat's feathers just that tiny bit. "Maybe this is just a rock. Nothing else."

"It's not! It's blue and you can't see that. That means this is a Materia!"

"Maybe it needs more chakra," Hayate suggested calmly.

"I already tried to use ten times the amount I use for the other one," the blond informed them frustrated.

The sick-looking shinobi seemed to think it over for a second. "Then it's possible that it just works differently. The fact it's blue, unlike the two you already have, could entail that."

The ANBU took a step forward, looking very formal as he spoke. "If I may?" he asked quietly, deep voice coming muffled from behind his hawk mask. "In ANBU, blue means support. When a member of the team has a stripe of such colour on the shoulder, it means support is his primary task or even specialization." He paused for a moment before resuming. "Although green indicates advanced medic abilities, and not offensive power as it would seem for your… stones."

"Still, you could be right," Genma said thoughtfully.

"Support, huh?" Naruto asked doubtfully, looking down at the sphere in his hand.

"Maybe. You could try to use it together with the other one," the brown-haired ninja suggested. "It's possible it's meant to enhance other Materia's powers or something."

The blond genin looked ecstatic at that. He quickly fished inside his pocket and pulled out the other – identical, to the three jounin's eyes – stone. He raised both his arms above his head and green light immediately rose in a circle around him. When the lightning struck the ground, it left the usual scorched mark on the dry soil.

"It looked pretty much the same to me," Naruto said disappointed.

"You could try different things as well," Genma ventured, smirking again. "I don't know… like rubbing them together quickly or saying magic words all the while."

That earned him a light glare from the blond. He looked pensive after a moment, though.

"What if…" he said quietly, turning around again and stretching his hands forward. Then he… _paired_ the two Materia, making them touch one another, and instantly, he was aware of something new, something he hadn't even thought about before, and that he now knew was perfectly possible.

He could attack multiple targets.

That was it, he thought excitedly. That was the enhancement the blue Materia provided. He tried to pull it away from the green one, and it was like the ability of hitting different spots disappeared from his own mind. He smiled brightly at that, turning towards the other ninja as if to share that moment of understanding, but the three were still looking at him expectantly.

His grin turning wolfish, Naruto once again paired the Materia together and called up chakra. Immediately, green light rose from the ground around him and thunder rumbled ahead, this time much more prolonged than usual. The shower of lightning that followed left him positively open-mouthed. He counted six bolts, but could have missed one considering how close and quick they had stuck the ground. Looking down at the scorched marks once the ruckus had passed, he confirmed their number.

Six. Six bolts of lightning had fallen from the sky.

"Holy shit," Genma commented in an impressed tone.

Naruto smiled. 'Holy shit' seemed really appropriate, he thought as he peered down at the blue sphere in his hand.

He was already in love with this All Materia.

* * *

Author's notes – Just going to answer some of the main points and critics of you reviewers.

First, Naruto's dumbness. All I have to say about it is "it's canon".

Really, it's as simple as that. When I write a fanfiction, I try to stay faithful to the original work as much as I can. This means that unless an event of my creation products changes, there aren't any changes. Now, the point of divergence in my story for what concerns Naruto is the moment he sees the Lightning Materia on the Hokage Monument and the moment in which the Kyuubi starts speaking to him.

Until then, "Via Osmosis" Naruto is Canon Naruto. That means dumb, among other things. I didn't make him any dumber than he really is, on the contrary, to the other characters of the story (Team 7 especially), he appears smarter because of some of the Kyuubi's suggestions.

And he will grow. As a character, he will grow in this aspect as well. He already had some important moments of insight, just like in canon. They will get more frequent.

As for the Kyuubi, the same concept applies to him. Of course, the Demon's point of divergence is another one, as in to say the moment he conceived his plan. That happens twelve years before "Via Osmosis" really begins, and twelve years are enough time to change his character a little or a lot.

Don't fret about it. You don't even know what happened to him in those twelve years. You don't even know what his plan really is. Just keep reading, or stop, if you really can't stand the way I write him.

That's all, I think. Bye.

Uncle Stojil


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

* * *

It was early afternoon in Konoha and Team 7 was just filing inside the Hokage tower to report about their mission. After climbing three flights of stairs, they entered the mission-assignment room and checked in at the frontal desk.

"Mission accomplished," Kakashi said simply, handing over the paperwork.

"Thank you," Iruka said, directing a small smile to his former students. "Hello, there. How's genin life treating you?"

"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto greeted loudly. "Missions are so boring!"

The man actually sighed. "Yeah. I get that a lot at this desk."

"Why do you work here, Sensei?" Sakura asked hesitantly. "What about the Academy?"

"Unfortunately, being a teacher doesn't pay as much as I'd like," Iruka answered with a flippant smile. "Working part-time here helps me with the bills."

"Uh," Naruto commented. "I hope the pay is better than what _we_ get."

The chuunin just smirked mysteriously.

"So, how was the mission?" he asked, looking at the paperwork. He flashed a grin. "Other than boring, I mean."

The blond genin prattled on about it for some minutes while the man worked. He told him pretty much everything about the store they had to work at, only leaving out Kakashi's usual mind games and their following mental trip. He couldn't tell Iruka how they always panicked whenever the jounin uttered one of his cryptic, multi-interpretable sentences. Either the man was sadistic or they were masochists, Naruto couldn't tell yet. Before the actual D-rank started, after a comment thrown in almost casually by the jounin, they had ended up questioning whether the mission was to be taken completely seriously or as a training-stage of sorts.

Sticking to their strengths and performing as best as they could or using the assignment as a chance to improve where they lacked? In the end they chose the former, when Naruto eventually sided with Sakura, but they didn't know whether it was the right choice or not. Anyway, the blond was still convinced they were simply 'overthinking it'.

"Okay," Iruka finally said, pushing the paperwork towards the silver-haired jounin. "If you would sign this, Kakashi-san…"

The man did as told. "Thank you."

"Now," the chuunin started, taking the paperwork back and stashing it inside a drawer, "would you like another mission or-"

"Nope. We're done for today," the jounin interrupted with a creepy smile. "It's time for some training _now_."

His genin exchanged some meaningful glances before shrugging. Sasuke snorted, shaking his head. That was probably the only hint they would get about the decision of the precedent mission, but at least it sounded like a positive response.

They exited the Hokage tower and ran to their usual training ground, where they started with some individual sparring and then continued with an all-versus-Kakashi session.

The fight had just begun when it happened. Naruto was sneaking silently from tree to tree, moving to get to his designed spot, when a surprising set of memories flowed into his brain. He almost gave away his position with a gasp, but managed to suppress it enough to go unnoticed. He blinked his eyes owlishly before smiling happily. A Kage Bunshin of his had just dispelled himself. It was the one stationed outside the Golden Dragon.

After almost two weeks, Tenten had come back.

The rest of the training session ticked ever so slowly to an end. Naruto bade a hasty goodbye and ran away, leaving his baffled team behind. He didn't even ask Sakura out or challenge Sasuke to a match. He was simply too eager to get to the girl's hideout.

A few minutes later, he was finally standing in the dark alley of the commercial district, trying to recall how exactly the secret passage opened. He found the spot soon and fumbled a little with the stone he knew controlled the mechanism. When he couldn't get it to do anything, the blond tried knocking and whistling quietly, and a few seconds later the familiar flight of stairs appeared in front of him.

"Get in, quick!" a voice from the room below urged him and he complied immediately.

He heard the passage closing behind him and jumped down the last few steps with some trepidation.

"Hello!"

"Hello, Naruto," Tenten greeted him back, pressing a switch on the left wall. There was a click from up the staircase and then silence. "I found your clone outside a few hours ago. I'm guessing he relayed the message."

The young blond nodded. "Something like that. You told him my things were almost ready."

"Yeah," the girl agreed with a smile. She gestured to the large worktable near the furnace. "There they are. Why don't you try them on?"

Naruto shot to the indicated spot like an arrow, his eyes shining with excitement. Scanning avidly the wooden surface, he soon found what he was looking for - two long, wide armbands, completely black but for some vertical grey stripes. They reminded him of some light pieces of armor he'd seen in some Academy books, or sometimes on older ninja. These were different though, for there seemed to be small round slots, four in each armband, placed in pair on two sides.

The blond took them almost reverently, and after a quick look at Tenten, started putting them on.

"Using armbands as holsters seemed the best solution to me," the girl commented while Naruto adjusted the first one. "They make contact with your skin directly so as to better channel the chakra coming out of your tenketsu points. They're easily concealable under long sleeves and easily accessible should you need to put or take off a Materia quickly."

"Wow," the blond said simply once he was done.

The holsters fit perfectly and were cool on his skin. He tried to equip his Lightning Materia in one of the slots of the right armband and it only took a small push to get it in. There was a quiet click and the stone stuck to the piece of armor. When Naruto tried swinging his arm wildly, the Materia stayed firmly in place.

He beamed up at Tenten.

"They're perfect!" he declared happily. "Thank you so much!"

The girl smiled and nodded. "You're welcome. It took me only a week to do most of the work, and I would have given them to you before the deadline if it weren't for the long mission I was assigned to."

"Yeah, my clone told me," he said with a dismissive wave of his hand. He looked around timidly.

"Do you want to try the jutsu?" Tenten asked with a knowing smile. She gestured at the huge anvil beside the table. "Go on. Be my guest."

"What if I destroy it like the blade, the wakizashi?" the blond asked almost with an apologetic tone.

"Don't worry about that. This anvil isn't made of normal steel like most. It was created appositely to bear destructive chakra without problem and it did so for almost a century now." The brunette smiled again when Naruto still looked hesitant. "Really, there's no need to worry. Work your magic!"

The young boy chuckled slightly at that, before facing the anvil directly. He glanced at his right holster once and then called up power like he always did when he held the Materia in his hand. Green light seeped through the cracks in the pavement in a circle and a second later a bolt of lightning came crashing down from above. After it had dissipated, Naruto checked the anvil for damage but didn't find any.

"It worked perfectly, I think," Tenten commented satisfied, albeit a bit shocked by the boy's jutsu. Damn, was that badass… even more than the Ice technique he had showed her before... She blinked at the stone in the holster. "Am I wrong or did it get bigger?"

"It's possible. I warned you about that, right?" Naruto gave the Materia a few tentative tugs but it didn't move. "Still perfectly locked in, though. This is great! They will help me so much in a fight!"

"Good. By the way, I discovered something while I worked on them," the girl said suddenly. She walked up to the cabinet of weapons and opened it, pulling out Naruto's Ice Materia from it.

The boy accepted it gratefully and equipped it in the first slot of the left armband. "What's that?"

"I was still thinking about how to proceed when I started wondering," she said quickly, almost eagerly. "What if by putting the Materia at arm-level, it would be damaged during a fight? Arms are often used to parry blows and there are ninja out there capable to crush stones with their _fingers_."

Naruto looked down at his holsters in horror, thinking about the possibility of losing one of his beloved Materia. Tenten ignored him and went on with his explanation.

"So I ran some tests. It turns out your magic stones are tougher than they look."

The blond blinked curiously. "How much tougher?"

"Let's just say I advice you to _always_ parry with them." The girl smiled amusedly. "My best sword couldn't even scratch the one you gave me when I tried."

Naruto looked at his Materia with renewed awe. "Wow…"

"After that discover I put some additional protections around the slots in the armbands so as to better let you absorb eventual blows," she continued proudly. "I did a damn good job, if I can say so myself. You will probably be able to sustain anything this side of a chakra weapon."

"This… this is incredible!" the blond genin shouted happily. "It's way better than I ever hoped!" He stopped for a moment as if suddenly remembering something. "Oh, wait a minute…"

Tenten watched curiously as the boy pulled out another Materia from his right pocket. He immediately put it in the slot next to the one already equipped and blinked.

"Uh, there's a problem."

The young kunoichi furrowed her brow. "What problem?"

"This Materia…" he said. "It probably looks the same as the others to you, but it's blue instead of green. Its power is different from those I showed you."

"What does it do?" the girl asked curiously.

"Nothing in and of itself," Naruto explained. "But if it's paired with a green one, it enables me to hit up to six objectives at the same time, although it only works once and then I have to wait a few minutes to do it again. I call it All Materia."

"And how do you know it doesn't work?" she wanted to know. "You didn't even try it."

"I know because when I let it touch my other Materia, it's like the possibility of targeting multiple objectives suddenly appears in my mind," he recited clearly, sounding to Tenten like he had rehearsed the little speech before. "And now it doesn't."

He pulled the stone in question out of the slot and rubbed it against the others, one at the time. He nodded.

"Yep. It works like this. Now I know I can produce six bolts." He then took the Ice Materia out of the other armband and tried to connect them all together. "Pity. It seems only one green Materia gets the enhancement at a time."

"Well, okay." Tenten thought about it for a long second and then hmmed noncommittally, reaching for a stripe of cloth on the worktable. She walked up to Naruto, grabbed his arm unceremoniously, and then applied the fabric loosely on the Lightning Materia in the slot. "This is Iwa paper, remember? It's the chakra conductive material I used in strategic parts of the holsters. Try to see if your All Materia connects through it."

Naruto complied, bringing the blue stone up to the other end of the stripe of cloth. It worked, much to his delight, and he told her so.

"Good. It would be stupid to create new armbands only because of this little hitch," she explained then. "It's much easier to adjust them. Take them off and I'll connect the slots in a heartbeat."

The blond shifted from one foot to the other, looking apologetic.

"I'm sorry about this…" he started a bit lamely, but Tenten interrupted him.

"What about? It's normal to have to apply some modifications when you work on something custom-made," she reassured him. He handed her the holsters after a moment of hesitation and she immediately went to work. "Make yourself comfortable while you wait, unless you prefer to come back later."

"I'll wait," Naruto said immediately. "Thank you."

"No problem," she replied with a wide smile. "You said in pair, right?"

It took her an hour to finish the job, but in the end it was perfect. He put the armbands on again and thanked her profusely. She laughed when he said he would kick even more ass now and she agreed with him. He bade her goodbye after paying her ten thousands ryo with the promise to come back some other time to restock his weaponry, which was badly in need of an upgrade.

While he exited the Golden Dragon, Tenten smiled proudly.

Her very first customer had left completely satisfied.

And she was as well.

* * *

Hatake Kakashi moved nimbly through the forest, invisible and silent as a shadow despite the afternoon sun. A few feet from him, unaware of his presence, Naruto continued walking east in a straight line, mostly.

The jounin was more than a little curious, aside from mad. The blond had finally been able to get assigned a more difficult mission thanks to his whining and now he practically ditched it to do who-knows-what. For the second time! Of course, it was a simple C-rank, escorting an old man to the Wave Country, nothing fancy, but the boy had seemed happy to get out of Konoha to do something different.

Something was up, Kakashi thought, but he really didn't know what it was. A few hours back, Naruto had used Kawarimi to swap with one of his clones and had left their group secretly. The jounin had noticed, of course, but attributed the thing to 'bowel problems'. The boy was probably too embarrassed to ask for a bathroom break, he had said to himself, making a point to talk to him privately about it.

But Naruto's absence had lasted much longer than any bathroom break ever should. He had come back an hour and half later, swapping with the clone who had replaced him and looking no different than when he had left.

The second time it happened, Kakashi reined on his instincts, and just followed the boy instead of gutting him. He left a Kage Bunshin to impersonate him like his student had done and went after him.

Leaves brushed against him as he passed by, always making sure to stay leeward. He didn't want to take any chances considering Naruto's stronger than most sense of smell. He already had to dodge some of his clones earlier, which proved more difficult than he thought. But he had been the one to tell the blond to create them and the one to explain how they should have positioned, so he wasn't really surprised.

It was funny how the boy had taken advantage of his order. He had used one of those clones to pull off both Kawarimi stunts.

Naruto seemed to know exactly where he was going, only straying from his path when hindrances got in the way. Half an hour had passed, though, and it still didn't look like they were going to stop soon.

Kakashi was wondering whether to put an end to this irritating business when Naruto finally stopped. He was standing right under a tall tree and looking down with searching eyes. He circled the big trunk once before returning to his original spot. Maybe he finally decided this was the right spot to pee or poop, the jounin thought with some amusement from a tree branch nearby, and waited impatiently for something to happen.

The blond crouched down and started digging around the tree's roots. The hole was probably a foot deep when he gasped. A happy shout escaped the boy's lips then, and a few seconds later, he had finished moving dirt and had dug up something.

Kakashi blinked for a moment before finally understanding.

What he recognized as a Materia was now in Naruto's hands. It was covered in dirt, but it couldn't have been anything else. The jounin smiled. This was the perfect chance for what he had never been able to do in the five months as Team 7 Sensei. He quickly uncovered his Sharingan and took a good look at the stone in Naruto's hands while he dusted it off.

He wasn't surprised when the doujutsu picked up the Materia's real color – bright green – unlike his normal eye. Apart from that, though, the sphere looked pretty much the same. Admittedly, he had thought that with the Sharingan he would have seen something else, maybe even power swirling inside the stone, but it wasn't the case. As the blond rolled up the right sleeve of his orange jumpsuit where Kakashi knew he kept his Materia, he was surprised to see also a blue sphere among two green ones.

The jounin nodded, satisfied with what he had discovered. He was about to cover his enhanced eye when green light flashed around the boy, the telltale sign he was about to use his weird weapons. A split of a second later, a large ball of fire roared into existence underneath a small bush nearby, apparently the selected target. Leaves and twigs burned to ash instantly, and all around in a circle, blades of grass caught on fire. Although the Sharingan registered every movement, Kakashi instinctively knew he couldn't reproduce Naruto's jutsu. The chakra he had used was unlike anything he had ever seen.

"Crap!" the blond swore loudly in seeing the flames spread rapidly in multiple directions. He jumped from one place to another, trying to stomp the fire with his shoes. It was a pathetic attempt and, of course, it wasn't working.

"Planning to burn down the whole forest?" Kakashi asked while rapidly making seals, his left eye once again concealed under the head protector. Water cascaded down to the ground, putting out the fire and drenching the boy.

"Se-Sensei!" the genin sputtered both because of the water and the surprise. "How long have you been there?"

Kakashi jumped down from his branch sporting his most bored look.

"Since you switched place with your clone, of course," he said with a shrug. He smiled slightly at Naruto's look of surprise. "What, you thought I wouldn't notice? You only got away the first time because I thought you just needed to pee."

"Why would I sneak away to pee?" the blond asked, honestly confused.

The jounin was about to answer but then just shut his mouth. As a matter of fact, the idea of Naruto, of all people, being embarrassed of something like peeing sounded absurd now.

"Whatever," the silver-haired man said dismissingly. "So, your real intention was to take one of these Materia of yours, huh? At least now all that secrecy is explained, considering your desire to keep the rest of the team unaware of your Materia. Nice power by the way. You might want to learn a Suiton ninjutsu, though, in case of things going… hot."

The boy's face reddened slightly. "I had everything under control!"

"Uh-uh, I noticed," Kakashi agreed amiably.

"Hey, _you_ could teach me that jutsu!" the blond said then, eagerly. "You promised us we would get up to two technique this month."

"Don't you have another Materia, a water-based one or something?" he ventured thinking about the blue one he had caught a glimpse of. As the genin shook his head, he resumed. "What about the one you took before? I assume the first side-trip led to that as well, right?"

Naruto's expression turned surprised and then sour. "That one's not water based."

Kakashi blinked at his student's sudden gloom. "What does it do?"

"I don't know, okay?" he snapped irritably. He rolled up his left sleeve and practically glared at the only Materia in the armband.

"You couldn't get it to work?" the jounin asked curiously.

"No, it worked as usual," the boy explained with a sigh, looking down with a frown. "I just couldn't see any effect. It seems useless."

"Do you…" the silver-haired man started, gesturing vaguely at himself. "Do you want me to take a look at it?"

The blond glanced up at his Sensei, uncertain. "Do you think you can figure it out?"

The other shrugged. "It won't hurt to try, right?"

Naruto seemed to think about it for a few seconds before agreeing. He turned to an unharmed bush to his left and the jounin mimicked him. The usual green light around him followed, and then a shower of what looked like green sparks fell on the designated target, while an actually nice jingle of bells resonated around.

Kakashi's eyebrows went up.

"I tried to use it on a clone too, but nothing happened," the genin explained as if to justify himself.

"You know," the jounin started with a speculating tone, "I think I recognized the chakra. It felt similar to a jutsu I know." He pulled out a kunai from his pouch and slashed his left hand with a swift movement. Blood started seeping out of the cut and to the still wet grass below. "Try it on me now."

Naruto nodded, thinking he understood where the man was going. He called up power and, like before, a tinkling sound preceded the rain of sparks. The slash on Kakashi's hand healed up under their eyes. A second later, there was no trace it had ever been there.

"Cool!" the blond genin cheered, now smiling.

"Useful," the jounin agreed, very impressed.

"How did you know it would have done that?"

"Like I told you, I felt it," the silver-haired man repeated. "Every type of chakra has a different feel to it, both based on the user and the use you make of it. With a good predisposition or enough training, every ninja can be able to tell the differences. It's also handy if you're trying to track down a chakra signature or a genjutsu. The more you train the more distant you'll be able to sense it."

"Seems like what I do with a Materia," Naruto said thoughtfully, looking down at his left armband. "That's how I found this one. I sensed its presence." He grinned suddenly. "Well, my clones did. Making them spread out like you told me was a great idea!"

Kakashi rolled his eyes. "Moving on onto more important stuff, let's have a little chat while we go back to the team."

The blond blinked quizzically, already falling into step beside his Sensei. "What about?"

"Oh, I don't know… maybe about you ditching the mission for hours," the jounin proposed sweetly. "How about that?"

The genin laughed nervously. "Eh, eh… sorry."

"Is there a logical reason why you couldn't just send a Bunshin after the Materia rather than going yourself?" Kakashi wanted to know, now more seriously. "From your words, it sounds like they can find them too."

"Well, yes, they can," Naruto admitted with a wince. "It's just that… I like doing this kind of things myself. Relying on my clones seems just… wrong."

The jounin glanced sideways at him. "That's somewhat commendable… and really stupid."

"Hey!"

"What's the use of having a large number of Kage Bunshin if you don't let them handle things when you're busy elsewhere?" Kakashi questioned with a shake of his head. "Especially things like venturing alone in an unknown forest, just to pick something up. I mean… I came after you myself only because I didn't know what you were doing and I knew my clone could take care of anything this mission sent his way."

"You can use the Kage Bunshin no jutsu?" the blond asked in surprise.

"What, you thought I had left the rest of the team by themselves?" The man raised a silver eyebrow. "Of course I can use that jutsu. Well…" he amended, "I can't spam hundreds of clones like you do, but I have no problem up to a dozen."

Naruto smirked smugly at that and opened his mouth to brag about it, but was interrupted by his Sensei.

"Save it," he said, rolling his eyes. "Anyway, the point is… you're not getting the priorities right," he explained, counting on his fingers. "First comes the team's safety, then the mission, and only finally Materia or other such things."

The blond looked embarrassed now, while scratching the back of his head self-consciously. "Yeah, you're right. That drunkard was getting on my nerves, though," he whined defensively.

"Nice fellow, huh?" Kakashi chuckled."He's the client, though, and our mission is to escort him to his home. You can't disregard it like that."

"I know," Naruto said sullenly. He nodded after a moment. "I promise I won't do that again. I'll protect that old man no matter what!"

Kakashi smiled at his student's usual enthusiasm and patted him lightly on the back.

"Come on now. Let's hurry to the others. A little running won't hurt you."

Naruto followed the man diligently, and as they sped past tall trees and colorful plants, he couldn't help but feel content. The jounin had been more tolerant than he thought, and forthright for once. He had spoken up his mind without hidden meanings or mysterious sentences, making it clear what he wanted from him. Also, the request wasn't really unreasonable, so he would just have to put his mind at rest and let his clones handle any Materia 'sighting'.

'_Once again Kakashi managed to beat some sense into you,_' the Kyuubi said suddenly. '_Although without an actual beating it's way less funny._'

'_Oh, shut up,_' the genin sent back through their mental link.

'_He also found out what the other Materia did,_' the bijuu continued, sounding impressed. '_What do you wanna call it? Oh, let me guess! Heal Materia?_' He snorted.'_You really have no imagination…_'

'_What do you suggest then, smartass?_' the jinchuuriki fired back, scowling behind Kakashi.

There was a moment of silence before the eventual answer. '_I'll think of something._'

It was Naruto's time to snort now.

'_Okay, then,_' the Demon resumed with an annoyed huff, '_how about Restore Materia? It fits, and it's different from your usual uninspired names._'

'_I don't like it,_' the blond said a little petulantly.

'_Too bad for you, then,_' was the snooty reply. '_It's already decided._'

Naruto pouted slightly but didn't protest any further.

It took another thirty minutes to get back to the team and when they did, Kakashi simply walked up to them, his student in tow. The boy stepped on the road a little subdued, not really looking back at the rest of his team.

"You told them about us?" the original jounin asked his copy, noticing how no one was surprised or wary.

"As soon as I sensed you," was the reply. That said, the clone disappeared with a puff of smoke.

"What's going on?" Sasuke wanted to know, and behind him Sakura nodded her head.

"Nothing much," Kakashi said with a shrug. "Naruto was too embarrassed to let us know he had to pee and sneaked away. Don't give him too hard a time for it."

"What?" the blond sputtered indignantly. "It's not true!"

Sakura shifted her eyes from him to their Sensei and back. "What happened, then?"

"It was…" the young boy started slowly, not really knowing what excuse to make up. "Uh, okay, it's true. I had to pee."

The girl just shook her head then, rolling her eyes. Sasuke, instead, stared suspiciously at Naruto.

"A little sissy dressing as a ninja…" Tazuna commented with a snort. He took a swig from his bottle and wiped his mouth with a sleeve. "Ridiculous."

The blond gritted his teeth angrily but Kakashi finally showed he was capable of some sympathy.

"Let's move on, shall we?" he said quietly, his one-eyed smile directed at everyone. "It's still the first day and we already wasted a lot of time. I don't want to be stuck with you guys twenty-four-seven any longer than necessary."

Pretty much everyone else grumbled their agreement and started marching down the dirty road again.

Another hour passed before it happened. Naruto was walking in front of everyone, not really thinking about anything, when a sharp metal sound made him turn around only to see two dark-haired ninja who had apparently rose out of a puddle behind them. They wore a large metal gauntlet each, and from it a long chain started, connecting them to one another. Its metal links were now wrapped around Kakashi.

"What?" the surprised jounin could only say.

"One down," was the simple answer by one of the newcomers.

Then he and his companion yanked hard the ends of their chain, and what had once been Team 7 Sensei was shredded to pieces.

There had been no time to do anything, everyone was so surprised. Naruto could only stare in shock at the flying body parts falling to the ground.

'_JUMP!_'

The demonic shout inside his head practically bypassed his brain and went straight to the body. The blond instinctively leaped backwards right as the two attackers tried to trap him with their weapon.

At that point, multiple things happened at the same time. The nearest Naruto clones all charged the two shinobi at once, Sasuke, jumping high in the air and throwing a single kunai, stuck the offending metal chain to a nearby tree, and the original Naruto finally got out of his half-stupor and narrowed his eyes in anger.

With the image of the dismembered Kakashi still in mind, he watched as Sasuke kicked both enemy ninja in the head before shouting at the top of his lungs.

"Thunder!"

A second later, after green light had shone all around him, twin bolts of lightning hit the metal chain, on both sides of the tree to which it was still stuck. A powerful electric wave ran visibly through the links, but only one ninja was electrocuted, for the other had used a devise in the gauntlet to free himself a split of a second before it was too late. While his companion dropped to the ground still twitching, he shot menacingly towards Tazuna and Sakura protecting him.

He was probably two feet away when the clones reached him.

They closed in on him from different directions, five first and four more a couple of seconds later. One jumped right in front of the extended gauntlet and managed to deflect it at the cost of dying, while the others either tried to hit the man or to pin him down. After a few seconds of struggling, the ninja fell under the overwhelming number of bodies and was then beat to unconsciousness.

Silence descended all around as the five remaining Kage Bunshin got off the knocked out shinobi, panting. Sasuke kneeled by the other ninja, checking his pulse for any vital signs. Sakura, instead, was still frozen in place, holding her kunai up with a frightened expression on her face, while behind her, Tazuna trembled visibly as he reached for his bottle of courage. Naruto was looking at the felled enemies in a mix of grim satisfaction, confusion and pain.

Then a voice resonated from above.

"Didn't think it'd go this well."

Everyone stared as Hatake Kakashi jumped down from a tree branch, landing beside Sasuke.

"Sensei!" Naruto, his clones and Sakura all shouted in shock.

The young Uchiha only sighed in relief, glancing at the logs lying where the jounin had supposedly died. He shook his head.

"Kawarimi," he said and the others turned to look at the wooden objects nearby.

Kage Bunshin kept on arriving on the scene, alerted by the memories of their fellow clones dispelled during the fight, and they goggled at Kakashi before realizing what had happened.

In the meantime, the silver-haired man was picking up the electrocuted ninja, putting him over his right shoulder and walking up to the large tree he had used to hide himself.

"These two," he said, pausing as he dropped his heavy package off, "are Kirigakure chuunin. They're known to continue fighting no matter what. You guys did a good job with them."

"Hell yeah!" one of the Kage Bunshin who had participated in the fight agreed loudly.

"Sasuke, you were the quickest to react to the attack, and you immediately disposed of their most dangerous weapon, while avoiding their poisoned gauntlets," he praised, going back to take the other ninja. "Naruto, I commend you for coming up with the idea of electrocution on the spot. Thinking on your feet is incredibly important for a shinobi. The way you took advantage of Sasuke's doing was perfect proof of it."

Naruto smiled, half-sheepish and half-amused. "Actually, I've played with the idea of using my Lightning jutsu like that for quite some time now. Only, in my head, the whole thing involved Sasuke and his metal wire."

Sasuke snorted. "Like I would fall for that."

"Nevertheless," Kakashi resumed quickly, before the discussion could degenerat into a brawl, "it was a good move and it put one of the chuunin out of the game. Your clones fought well too."

Loud whoops rose from the bunch of Kage Bunshin.

"And last but not least Sakura," the jounin finished as he put down the other Kirigakure ninja as well. He pulled out a thick rope from one of his pouches and started tying the two enemies at the tree-trunk. "You got ready to protect the client from eventual attacks. They never came thanks to your teammates, but you acted exactly as the mission required."

The young Haruno looked down at her feet, without saying anything but not looking particularly proud.

"All in all," Kakashi resumed with his trademark smile, "you exceeded my expectations. I'm so proud I could cry."

"We totally kicked their ass!" Naruto bragged, looking around for approval.

While his clones cheered happily, Sasuke couldn't contain a small smile.

"Yeah," he agreed, still keeping his cool.

Unexpectedly, Tazuna stepped in as well.

"Yeah, you were great!" the bridge-builder said excitedly, and for once he had put his sake away. "I really underestimated you guys! You gave me quite a scare, though, Kakashi-san! Pretending to die like that..."

"Right!" Naruto said, looking like he had just remembered it. "Why did you do that?"

The jounin straightened up, having just finished securing the unconscious prisoners. He turned to his team and Tazuna.

"I needed to know something," he said simply, gesturing vaguely at the puddle behind them where the two Kirigakure chuunin had hidden. "I knew there was going to be an attack. There's not going to be a puddle after such a sunny day. But I wanted to know who they were really after." He faced the old client directly. "Tazuna-san, Sasuke and Naruto were clearly the biggest threat in this fight, but the last chuunin standing went after you in the end." His expression hardened under the black mask. "Why is that?"

The bridge-builder flinched under the other's gaze. He then sighed tiredly.

"It's time to tell you the whole truth, then," he said quietly. "You're right, Kakashi-san. Those two ninja were most certainly after me. There's a really dangerous man who wants me dead and I'm not surprised he finally relied to professionals for that. You have probably heard of him, Gatou."

"Gatou?" the jounin repeated incredulously. "From the Gatou Company? He's said to be one of the wealthiest men in the world."

"Yes," Tazuna confirmed. "Officially, he's the owner of a shipping company, but secretly he's what most would describe as a crime lord. He controls the drug market and deals in many other illegal objects. He uses ninja and gang members to take over businesses or entire countries. Unfortunately, he recently set his eyes on the Land of Waves. In a few months, he took over our shipping industry through money and violence, quickly gaining a monopoly on all business traffic in the country."

Naruto looked around at the others with a lost expression on his face, not really getting the long explanation. He tried to conceal his confusion when it seemed like the others were able to follow Tazuna's story, but couldn't help but feel left out.

"The only thing he has to fear now is the completion of the bridge," the old man finished grimly.

"I see…" Sakura suddenly said. "Since you're building the bridge, you're in the way."

Tazuna nodded. "I… I couldn't tell your Hokage all this. You must understand that the Wave country is very poor. We only had money enough to pay for a C-rank mission even though we knew that what we needed was a B-rank, so of course I had to leave out these pieces of information." He lowered his head at that point, his wooden hat covering his eyes. "I'm sorry."

Kakashi waited a moment before answering.

"Well, at least you came clean," he said flippantly before turning to his genin. "Now, kids, let me lay out the situation to you. Considering the latest discovery, we're not bound to the contract anymore, so we could simply turn our back to the dishonest client and head home," and here Tazuna paled considerably, "or, we could help the old man out and continue the mission, knowing we risk facing enemy ninja, probably stronger ones than those two. You did well up to now but the choice is up to you."

Ah, finally something he understood, Naruto thought.

"I said I'd protect the old man and I never go back on my words! That's my ninja way!" he said vehemently. "Let's continue the mission!"

All his clones voiced their assent loudly, and Kakashi turned to the other members of Team 7 questioningly. Sakura nodded her head after seeing Sasuke do the same.

"Alright, it's decided then," the jounin said and Tazuna let out a relieved sigh. "Let's proceed to the Land of Wave."

* * *

Author's notes – Thank you for reading. Hope you enjoyed it. Zabuza will make his inevitable appearance in the next chapter, together with a deeper dive into the workings of Via Osmosis' Materia. Don't know when the installment will be out, though. New projects and old ones are constantly throwing themselves at my feet to catch my attention, and stepping over them isn't always easy to do. Bye.

Uncle Stojil


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

* * *

The small boat sailed slowly on the placid waters of the sea, swaying gently whenever a wave passed underneath. Team 7 sat in silence, waiting patiently for the trip to end. It wasn't a long one, Tazuna had assured them, but almost an hour had already passed and there still was no trace of the bridge they were headed to. Not that they'd see it if at more than twenty feet from it… the mist was so thick it was hard to make out what was in front of their nose.

Naruto wasn't paying attention to it anymore. After the novelty of the landscape – or lack thereof – had finally worn off, he had just plopped down on the wooden planks of the boat and fiddled with his newest Materia.

His newest _not-working_ Materia…

It was driving him crazy! No matter what he did, he couldn't understand how it worked. He made every test he could but to no avail. The stone kept on doing nothing.

The blond glared at the yellow sphere as if it would spill out all its secrets if he looked at it hard enough. Turning it around in his hands, he continued racking his brain about it.

The Materia was the fifth one found during the mission, his eighth in all, for after the Restore and the Fire Materia, Naruto had come into possession of two more. Now all the slots in his holsters were filled.

The first sphere he had found, which he later dubbed Cover Materia, had been a very pleasant surprise, both for what concerned its color and its use. It was purple, which was new to him, and chakra wasn't needed at all for its activation like his green spheres did. It was also different from his blue All Materia because he didn't need to pair it to another one for it to work and there didn't seem to be a max number of times you could use it. As a matter of fact, its power was triggered only under one specific condition, one Naruto discovered completely by chance.

It had been the second day of travel and he and Sasuke had been arguing about where to set up camp for the night. The blond had admittedly been a bit grumpier than usual for he had been dying all day to try his newest, still unknown Materia. Some _colorful_ words were exchanged, and as it often happened, Sakura had lost her temper. Her following punch directed at Naruto never found the intended target. Instead, one of the blond's Kage Bunshin had apparently popped out of nowhere to take the hit for him. The clone's stunned face had looked pretty funny for the brief second he had lingered before being dispelled by the blow.

There had been a moment of puzzled silence after that, and then Sakura had tried to punch the blond again. Much to her frustration, her fist once again connected with the jaw of a Kage Bunshin who had materialized between the two genin. At that point Naruto had looked down at his left armband and noticed how his newly acquired purple Materia was shining brighter than before, indistinct shapes swirling around just beneath its surface. He could have sworn it had gotten bigger too.

His gaze had still been on the sphere when Sakura's next punch finally found him, leaving him dizzy on the ground.

He devoted the following days to testing its new weapon. What the Cover Materia did, he discovered, was to give its holder a 20% chance of intercepting an attack on an ally. The Kyuubi did the actual math, of course, but Naruto got to that same, although rougher conclusion by himself, as he trained with different amounts of clones and realized that the more Cover-equipped Kage Bunshin there were, the less he got hit.

When an ally was attacked, the Materia decided on its own whether to work its magic or not, regardless of the intentions of the user. Said user could even be unaware that an attack was going on, it didn't matter. It was the sphere's call.

And it wasn't even as easy as that. The Materia only activated when an attack on an ally was about to _land_. It didn't work if it was parried or dodged or even if the attacker stopped the blow right before it could connect. It was incredibly accurate too, meaning it never misjudged the ally's reaction or the attacker's intentions, which was astounding on many levels. The Kyuubi _had_ said Materia was sentient, but that went beyond his expectations as well!

That cognizant behavior included another feature of the Materia, something Naruto still had to pin down as good or bad, though. The stone only activated in defense of a 'real ally', as in to say a non-clone one, ignoring any threat against Kage Bunshin and the likes of them. So it didn't extend to Naruto's own army, but it did work for the other members of Team 7 and Tazuna. That prompted the Kyuubi to strongly suggest not to keep the sphere in the holster, but to let the clones equip it once created, so as to limit that sacrificing power to replaceable Bunshin.

As for how the actual 'covering' worked… well, it was pretty much a mystery. The user didn't just _run_ to protect his ally.

He teleported.

Or something like that at least. What happened exactly was anybody's guess. Even Kakashi, upon seeing the Materia at work, couldn't really tell how the Cover-equipped clone just disappeared from his spot, only to pop up a second later in front of the incoming attack. It vaguely looked like a space-time jutsu but unlike anyone he had ever seen before, he had commented when the blond had taken him aside to ask him about it.

All in all, though, it was a pretty handy skill to have in Naruto's opinion, and he was really happy about it.

The same went for the next Materia he had found, a yellow one this time. It wasn't nearly as complicated to fully understand as the purple sphere had been, for as soon as a clone handed it over to him, he immediately realized what it did. It was impossible not to.

Naruto grinned slightly as he remembered how he had been able to steal first Tazuna's bottle and then Kakashi's Icha Icha Paradise. It had been easy, almost natural, that kleptomaniac talent suddenly finding its place in his skill set as if it had always been there. That talent had to be deliberately used, though, unlike the Cover Materia, didn't consume any chakra nor produced flashy circles of light, unlike the green ones, and could be used an unlimited number of times, unlike the All Materia. Naruto had to choose or maybe order it to work and it did. It was as simple as that.

Why couldn't all of them be so uncomplicated?

The blond sighed quietly, still toying with his mysterious stone, the fifth one of the trip, whose powers were still unknown. It was yellow like the Steal Materia, but he didn't get any new ability from it as far as he could tell. Calling up chakra to activate it didn't work, nor did pairing it with another one. Looking at it was starting to become nerve-wracking now. Sasuke's curious glances in his direction weren't helping either, so he decided to put the sphere back in his left holster and cover it with his orange sleeve.

The mist was still as thick as butter around them but the boatman seemed to know exactly where he was going. Tazuna was speaking quietly to Kakashi while the rest of Team 7 just kept quiet, looking bored.

"Here we are," the boatman said a few minutes later. "We should see the bridge soon and then the Wave country at its base."

"Wow!" Naruto shouted once the bridge appeared suddenly from the mist. "It's huge!"

"Hey, be quiet!" the boatman scolded him with a harsh whisper. "Why do you think we are hiding in the mist and not using the engine? We'll be in deep trouble if Gatou finds us."

The blond brought both hands to his mouth quickly, hoping he hadn't just screwed them over, but the next few minutes passed by without any problem.

"We'll be there soon," the boatman explained when a dozen of tunnels appeared ahead. "It looks like we avoided detection so far, but just in case we'll take the route that has vegetation. It will make it harder to spot us."

Then he led the small boat through one of the tunnels and to the other side.

"Wow…"

The exclamation of awe once again escaped Naruto's lips, this time much quieter though.

The Wave country opened out on both sides of them, two rows of wooden pile-dwellings meeting into a larger conglomerate on the front shore. They had to get through a group of trees literally coming out of the water to reach it, and Naruto couldn't help but watching them fascinated as they passed by.

When they arrived, they bade their goodbye to the boatman and started off down the small port, soon reaching a dirt road that, according to Tazuna, would lead them to his house.

"Ok! Get me home safely!" he said eagerly only to receive a far less enthusiastic reply from Kakashi.

"Yeah, yeah… Naruto," the jounin called after a brief second. "Fifty clones, usual formation."

"Right away!"

The blond complied, bringing his hands up to the familiar cross-shaped seal. From a large cloud of smoke lots of Shadow clones appeared, immediately darting in all directions and soon disappearing from view. A terrified white rabbit fled from a small bush a Bunshin had just invaded and crossed the street quickly.

Naruto's hand had instinctively gone to his weapon pouch, but he let it drop before he could harm the poor animal. He noticed Sasuke's hand had moved too.

It was somewhat funny, he reflected. When they had been attacked by those Kirigakure chuunin, it had taken them much more time to react, enough for Kakashi to fake his death, even. Maybe they were really ready for anything now…He shook his head as the rabbit finally disappeared behind another bush. The situation was completely different, though.

"Naruto, you scared the rabbit!" Sakura chastised him.

"Huh? It wasn't me!" the blond protested and was about to say something regarding his clones when the memories of one of them flowed into his brain. It took him a moment to register the fact and to fully elaborate the thought, but when he did, he shouted as loudly as he could.

"ENEMY NINJA!"

Not even a second passed and Kakashi let out a shout of his own. "Everyone, get down!"

Team 7 hit the deck immediately, the jounin bringing down Tazuna with him. With his head down to the dusty road, Naruto heard the sound of a blade cutting through the air just above his head and then strike a nearby tree.

When he eventually chanced a glance up, he saw that the blade he had felt was the biggest sword he had ever seen and it was now stuck horizontally to a large trunk. A tall ninja was standing on top of its long hilt, his back to them. As he quickly stood up, mirroring the others, Naruto couldn't help but linger over one particular detail.

The newcomer had no eyebrows.

* * *

The Kage Bunshin slipped silently to the other side of the tree-trunk he was on, brushing his back gently against the rough bark. He paid great attention in watching his step as he moved down the slippery branch. It wouldn't do to fall or worse betray his position now, not after all the effort he had put to get where he wanted to. He reached his destination and looked down.

Right beneath him, still standing on his own sword, the eyebrow-less freak was rattling on about Kakashi and his fancy eye. The clone didn't care much about that, his tongue darting in and out of his mouth to lick the lips nervously.

Momochi Zabuza, a Hidden Mist missing-nin. He didn't need his Sensei to tell him he was on a whole other level. He had already seen it for himself, and not partially like Naruto and the rest of the clones had when they had received the information through the attacked Bunshin's memories.

He had been there when it happened, advancing idly while his soon-to-be-killed fellow clone was walking calmly a few feet away, looking down at his left holster while equipping his Cover Materia. He had been there, watching, when a dark shape had dropped down from above and a huge sword had cut his look-alike in half, spraying blood and then smoke everywhere. The poor Kage Bunshin practically hadn't known what had hit him.

Naruto's copy had completely frozen at that point, his eyes wide and scared. Zabuza had looked up, pierced him with an eyebrow-less glare and then darted out faster than the eye could see to the dirt road and to Team 7.

The clone gulped silently as he crouched down on his branch. He had followed the swordsman from then on, slowly making his way as close to him as possible, waiting for his chance to come. He knew it wouldn't be easy, but he had to at least try. Zabuza was talking once again now, after a short speech by Sasuke, but he didn't look like he had his guard down, unfortunately.

"The man who has copied over a thousand jutsu," the shinobi was saying, looking down at Team 7. "Copy Ninja Kakashi…"

The Shadow clone tensed as he saw a movement out of the corner of his eye. A second later, another Kage Bunshin appeared, throwing himself at the swordsman from a nearby bush.

"How rude," Zabuza commented as he dispelled the attacker with a punch, easily keeping his balance upon his weapon. "I wasn't finished talking yet."

The attack seemed to be the trigger for the battle to begin, but instead of the expected fight against Kakashi, the missing-nin found himself facing a horde of blond genin, all of them coming from different directions.

Still perched up on his tree, Naruto's copy watched avidly as the Mist shinobi pulled the sword out of the trunk and jumped to the ground. A single swipe dispelled the first half dozen of Kage Bunshin, while the rest of them halted behind and started to move more cautiously, afraid of that huge weapon. The missing-nin dodged the next charge and made quick work of another group of blonds with his impressive blade. Green circles of light started flashing all around him at that point, and soon the area was showered in lightning. Even Kakashi, who had moved to join the fray, had to stop immediately, not wanting to get caught in the middle of that thunderstorm.

When the sky stopped rumbling and the air cleared, there were only Kage Bunshin on the battleground, looking at each other with confused expressions of their faces. Only the clone up the tree because of his vantage point and Kakashi because of his Sharingan had been able to follow Zabuza's movements and see that he had avoided getting extra-crispy.

The swordsman attacked with a vengeance from the side, quickly getting rid of the nearest bunch of Bunshin with his weapon.

"I'd advise you to try again when you're older, brat," he said derisively, punching another Naruto in the face, "but you're not gonna live until tomorrow."

The other clones shouted in outrage and renewed their attack, but it was evident nothing was going to work. Another thunderbolt came crushing down from above only to strike the ground harmlessly while Kage Bunshin continued to burst into smoke left and right. Of the fifty copies the original Naruto had created, only a dozen remained.

The clone up the tree shook his head, growing impatient. He reined on his instincts, though, for even if he joined the battle now, he wouldn't make much of a difference.

A loud gasp coming from Sakura made him turn his head to Team 7 and his eyes widened like discs when he saw Sasuke charging.

"Crap!" he cursed quietly.

The Uchiha was a couple of feet away from Zabuza, sprinting amidst the Kage Bunshin and attacking head on. The missing-nin had taken notice of him already and had turned to face him with his sword raised and an evil smile on his lips.

"Teme!" the original Naruto shouted frantically.

"Fool," the Mist shinobi commented right as he dropped his weapon down on him.

Everyone was already envisioning the dark-haired boy cut precisely in two when a Naruto clone suddenly materialized in front of the sword.

"What?" Zabuza exclaimed in confusion, but there was no time to redirect the blow.

The blade met the surprised blond at the shoulder, neatly cutting through him but slowing its descent sensibly until his disappearance in a puff of smoke.

It was enough time for Sasuke to end his attack.

After dodging the still falling blade, the Uchiha leaped forward, his fist connecting squarely against the missing-nin's jaw.

Surprisingly, the swordsman didn't budge. He didn't move at all aside from his head snapping sideways. When he turned to face Sasuke again a split of a second later, his eyes were furious.

"You brat…" he growled dangerously, and his sword rose quickly to strike the offending genin.

Once again, someone else blocked his weapon.

"Not so fast," Kakashi said, pushing back the huge blade with his small kunai with such incredible strength that the Mist shinobi was forced to leap backwards, landing in a crouch a few feet away.

Naruto's copy just stared open-mouthed, stunned at his Sensei's show of power and speed. From his position up the tree, he had been able to see the whole fight unfold and damn… the jounin had been freaking awesome! Besides, he looked pretty cool with that weird eye…

As Kakashi gestured for Sasuke to stand back, the clone gulped loudly, nervously scratching the Cover Materia in his left holster. It could have been him the one to appear in front of Zabuza's blade. It could have been his body the one to go up in smoke. Of course, he wouldn't have died, unlike Sasuke, just gone back to his original-self. The Teme was lucky the independent purple sphere had decided to activate and save his butt.

And still, he remembered the Uchiha's expression during the attack and during the sudden appearance of the Kage Bunshin. He hadn't been surprised at all. It had been like he had planned that.

The thought coursed through him like a wave of electricity. Of course! Sasuke had charged prepared to take advantage of that, knowing that Zabuza couldn't expect something like that to happen! And it had worked!

A smile started forming on the clone's lips, right as a plan did in his head. He could use that to his advantage too!

Meanwhile, Zabuza was straightening up, his dark eyes narrowed at Team 7 and the dozen Kage Bunshin still alive.

"Bastards," he growled lowly, "you'll regret this!"

That said, he jumped left and to the small bay nearby. The clone's eyes widened in seeing the missing-nin standing on top of the water, while the original Naruto had no problem whatsoever in shouting his shock.

"Over there! How does he do that?"

Everyone ignored him as Zabuza was making a seal and mist was rising all around him.

"Kirigakure no jutsu," he whispered, and he was already disappearing behind that thick fog.

Naruto's copy tensed up his tree, looking left and right. The swordsman was nowhere to be seen now and even the rest of the battleground was being shrouded by that white veil of sorts. Only a few seconds had passed and it already took him some serious squinting to make out the closest Bunshin to him.

Kakashi's voice droned from somewhere underneath him, warning them about what the missing-nin was capable of. It was followed by Zabuza's own voice, seemingly coming both from nowhere and everywhere in an eerie sound effect. The clone could only freeze in fear when his killing intent hit him like a brick wall.

"Where is he?" the original Naruto shouted angrily a few seconds later, sounding surprisingly free from that overwhelming sensation of dread. And it actually took the edge off it in the others as well. Kakashi did the rest with his nice, reassuring speech.

Naruto's copy had just been able to completely shake Zabuza's killing intent off when he caught a glimpse of something moving in the mist under him. A second later, a blurred shape materialized in the fog right beneath his tree and what he recognized as the missing-nin's long sword speared through a smaller silhouette silently. Then both disappeared like they had never been there.

The Kage Bunshin let out a shuddering breath as a set of memories flowed into his brain.

Zabuza was going after the other clones!

"He's going after the clones!" Naruto, presumably the original, warned immediately with a shout.

The Kage Bunshin up the tree continued looking around but wasn't able to see anything else, and yet the memories of his fellow copies kept on streaming into his mind at an incredible rate. Only a few of them actually depicted Zabuza attacking. In the most cases, the clones didn't even know they were been targeted until they the only thing they could do was going up in smoke.

When the flow of memories finally ended, the Kage Bunshin couldn't help but smile. As he thought, the Mist shinobi had not noticed him. He had done his best to hide his presence from the very beginning of the attack and it had paid off in the end. Now the situation wouldn't get nearly as bad as he had originally thought it would, at least concerning what he had plotted. On one hand, it was true that the blurring mist Zabuza had created was a hindrance to his plan, but on the other hand, him taking out the other clones could prove a great stroke of luck. He tried to count how many of them were killed and how many remained, but he couldn't be sure. Hopefully, though, he was the only one left.

He focused back on the battle when the missing-nin finally reappeared amidst Team 7, as made evident by the various gasps coming from them. It took Naruto's copy a few seconds to see what was going on at that distance, but when the mist suddenly cleared, he saw Kakashi burying a kunai in Zabuza's gut, while the others were sprawled on the ground in the now Kage Bunshin-free battleground.

What followed was a long series of shocks for the clone up the tree… and for everyone else for that matter. The gutted swordsman turned out to be a fake made out of water and so did Kakashi when an instant later another Zabuza cut him down with his huge blade. A second Kakashi appeared behind the Mist shinobi and kept him at kunai point for the duration of their brief conversation after which the real missing-nin finally appeared behind the jounin while his look-alike burst out in a splash of water.

Naruto's clone smiled excitedly as he watched Zabuza's sword descending upon his Sensei.

'Now!' he thought resolutely, raising his hands in a defensive gesture.

He expected to materialize in front of Kakashi in time to parry the blow with his Materia and save the man's life - and possibly his own - but it didn't happen. Surprisingly enough, the jounin dodged the sword against all odds.

Shocked by his Sensei's speed and agility, the Kage Bunshin wasn't ready when Zabuza twirled around, using the hilt of his weapon, and threw himself at Kakashi. He didn't need to, though, for even if the silver-haired jounin was hit this time, the Cover Materia didn't activate at all.

Naruto's copy stayed up his tree.

"Damn it!"

He watched as Kakashi was hurled away by the strength of Zabuza's kick, falling into the water of the nearby bay. When he surfaced a second later, the Mist shinobi was there, waiting for him.

"Heh, fool," he snorted while making seals, and water started rising in front of him and around Kakashi.

For the clone up the tree, it was like all the color of the world blurred together in an indistinct shape for a long second. Then a prolonged buzzing sound resonated in his ears and everything around pieced together again to form sky, sea and ground. It didn't feel like he had moved at all and yet he found himself hovering between Zabuza and Kakashi.

He accidentally pushed his Sensei away as he stumbled forward on the bay, too shocked to even try to hit or parry as according to the plan.

"What?" both he and the Mist shinobi said right as a sphere of water closed around the blond, oppressing him with its incredible heaviness and restraining him completely.

The clone blinked from inside his prison, then failed to suppress the urge to cackle and surprised both his captor and Kakashi with a bark of laughter. They looked at him oddly but he couldn't care less at the moment. He had just discovered what his mysterious yellow Materia did!

He was still giggling when the weight of the water proved too much for him and his existence went up in a puff of smoke.

* * *

"Ka-Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura shouted high-pitchedly.

Naruto turned to the pink-haired girl immediately, startled by her alarmed tone, and then followed her line of sight to the silver-haired man currently lying face down on the ground.

"Huh? What's wrong with you?" he said, walking up to the jounin. He crouched down at his side and shook him slightly. "Kakashi?"

"Is he hurt?" Sakura asked quietly.

"He looks sleepy," Sasuke commented, noticing his slowly opening and closing eyes.

"Maybe he's tired," Tazuna tried hesitantly. "I mean, you saw what kind of technique he tossed at that man. What did he call them? Water Dragon? Big Waterfall?"

"Hmmm," Naruto said noncommittally, remembering how the fight had proceeded after his last clone had saved Kakashi from the Water Prison. The jounin had totally kicked Zabuza's ass after that, thanks to the copying ability of the Sharingan, until a young hunter-nin coming out of nowhere had stuck two senbon in the Mist shinobi's neck, killing him. The kid in mask was gone now, together with the lifeless body of one Momochi Zabuza.

"What do we do now?" Sakura wanted to know, looking worriedly at the others before shaking Kakashi once again. "Sensei?"

"Maybe I can help!" the blond exclaimed suddenly. He rolled the jounin until he was lying on his back, his left eye once again covered by the head-protector. "Let me try this!"

Sakura took a step back as green light flashed around her teammate, usually not a good sign. When green sparks started cascading upon the silver-haired man, though, even preceded by a nice, soft jingle, her mouth opened in surprise. Her eyes widened as well when Kakashi mumbled something under his breath.

"What was that?" Sasuke asked with narrowed eyes. "I'd never seen you use that jutsu before."

Naruto peered closely at the jounin before trying again. As the usual jingle and sparks rained on the man, he answered the question. "It's a healing technique. I didn't need it at all in the past, though. I didn't even know what it did until recently. Kakashi told me."

"You didn't know what it did?" Sakura repeated confusedly. "That doesn't make any sense. You can't learn a jutsu if you don't know what it does!"

The blond scratched his neck nervously. "It's complicated…"

"Your techniques aren't normal at all," Sasuke pressed on with his brow furrowed, as the blond busied himself by giving his jutsu another try. "The green light, the lack of seals… they look more like magic than ninja techniques."

Naruto's head snapped up at that, and an amused smile started twitching his lips. It disappeared a second later after the usual circle of fluorescent light had flashed all around him. He didn't say anything.

Sasuke growled slightly, the soft jingle of the jutsu only deepening his annoyance.

"Your weird rocks have something to do with it, don't they?" he resumed with a glare. "Also with your clones' sudden appearance whenever one of us is attacked."

It was Naruto's turn to glare now. "So you think you know how that works, huh? Is that why you just charged Zabuza head-down? You were sure one of my Bunshin would have popped up to block his blow." He stood up quickly, facing his fellow genin. "Well, you know what? You didn't understand shit! There could be two pieces of you now lying on the ground somewhere over there! You got lucky!"

"Lucky or not, I guessed right! And I did what Kakashi taught us!" the Uchiha shouted back. "I looked underneath the underneath, learnt how that thing worked and used it to my advantage!"

"You could have been killed!"

"Well I wasn't!"

"Stop fighting!" Sakura jumped in quickly, struggling to push them away from each other. "This is not the time!"

"Guys…" the feeble call made everyone stop completely. They looked down at Kakashi and saw he was looking at them with half-lidded eyes.

"Sensei!"

"Stop arguing. You… did well," the jounin continued after a short hesitation. He took a deep breath. "Sasuke… that was reckless… but the risk paid off. Naruto… you keep the team out of the loop… can't fault them for that."

The two boy's glare lessened slightly in intensity at that and Naruto took a step back.

"Sensei," Sakura repeated, crouching beside him after making sure her teammates wouldn't suddenly attack each other. "How are you?"

Kakashi took some seconds to reply.

"Used… too much chakra," he slurred feebly. "The Sharingan… drains me. Naruto helped a little."

The blond grinned at that, pointing at himself smugly. "I can keep this up all day if you need it! With my awesome power, I'll have you back on your feet in a moment!"

Kakashi seemed to sigh. "Useless… your power restores the body." He took a deep breath. "Chakra is half spiritual energy. Body is fine now…"

The blond's confused expression turned comprehending as he recalled what the Kyuubi had once told him about the true nature of chakra.

"So what should we do?" Sakura asked quickly. "How can we help?"

"Just need rest," the jounin mumbled. "Tazuna's house…"

That said, his eyes closed completely and he fell asleep.

"Well," Sakura commented, straightening up. "That was uncharacteristically forthcoming for him."

Naruto snorted. "Yeah."

"He'd be almost bearable if he always suffered of chakra exhaustion," Sasuke joked quietly.

Naruto glanced at him and then looked pensive as he spoke up. "I can make some clones to carry him."

"How distant is your house, Tazuna-san?" Sakura asked.

"Not far," the old client assured them. "Twenty minutes away, give or take."

The three genin looked at each other and nodded.

"Let's go, then," Sasuke said, right as two Kage Bunshin appeared beside the silver-haired man and lifted him from his feet and shoulders. The jounin stayed fast asleep.

They started down the road at a good pace, slightly slowed down by Kakashi's dead weight. A few minutes passed before anyone spoke up.

"You know… Kakashi was right," Naruto suddenly said.

The comment made everyone turn to him and he shrugged self-consciously under his companions' gaze.

"I mean… what he said about me keeping my secrets…"

"Every ninja keeps some secrets," Sasuke said immediately, looking ahead once again.

"Yeah, but mine were about to get you killed." The blond couldn't quite cover the distress in his voice, although he tried. He didn't like to show how upset he was about the whole thing.

"My attack was a rash decision, a risk," the Uchiha admitted. "Kakashi said that as well, remember, Dobe?"

Naruto bristled at the hated nickname but reined on his temper. "Nonetheless, _Teme_, it would have been partly my fault if that eyebrow-less freak had cut your head clean off your body. And it's not just that… you're my teammates. You should know what I can or can't do, right?"

Nobody answered that. Sakura was staring at her feet, looking sullen, while everyone else just kept on walking.

"So you want to tell us or what?" Sasuke eventually asked, showing some of the curiosity he was trying to hide.

"I think I do," Naruto admitted. "But it's complicated."

"You already said that."

"I know." The blond frowned at the Uchiha before sighing. "Well, here goes nothing. I'll just say it, alright?"

He stopped on the dirt road and the others mimicked him, the two clones gently dropping Kakashi to the ground. They all turned in his direction and waited.

"You know the Kyuubi no Youko, right?" he started lamely and the others sweat-dropped. "Right, well… You know what a jinchuuriki is?"

Sakura thought about it for a moment before answering. "A human host for a demonic entity if I remember correctly." She gasped. "You're not saying…"

Naruto nodded. "I am the jinchuuriki of the nine-tailed Demon Fox."

"Impossible," she exclaimed in shock. "The Yondaime killed it!"

"Nope," the blond disagreed with a shake of his head. "He sealed him inside me. Look." He raised his jumpsuit and the t-shirt underneath to show his stomach. A second later a complex symbol started appearing around his navel. "This is what keeps him imprisoned."

Everyone leaned forward to take a better look at it, even Tazuna who was only partially following the explanation.

"Oh my… we-we studied jinchuuriki and bijuu at the Academy, but I never thought…" Sakura stammered, more than a little stunned.

"This explains your high chakra reserves, though," Sasuke commented, sounding fascinated. "Kakashi knows, I take it…"

"Yeah, every grown-up in Konoha knows," Naruto confirmed. "But the Sandaime forbade everyone from talking about it and from telling us kids."

"Why?" Sakura asked curiously and the blond shrugged.

"Something about not letting the new generation be influenced by the prejudices of the old one. He tried to stop the villagers from passing down to their children the hate for what I contain. Not that it worked all that well…"

Sasuke blinked in surprise, his mind going back to a day past when his family was still alive. He remembered his mother warning him to stay away from Naruto, practically prohibiting him from ever talking to the blond. He hadn't even asked why at the time, internally convinced that what his mother had said had to be right. He wondered what she would think now if she knew they were teammates.

The Uchiha glanced at Sakura and realized she was probably recalling something like that as well.

"Oh, my God," she whispered, hands rising to her mouth. "That's so stupid. How could they think you _are_ the Kyuubi?"

"Whatever," Naruto said, suddenly sullen-faced. "This is not what I wanted to talk about. I only told you because it's tied with my Materia."

"Your what?" Sasuke blurted, trying to refrain from grinning and failing despite the almost grim topic just passed. He recalled that weird lesson at the Academy, a lesson his former classmates still jocked about at times to this day.

Sakura managed to stay serious, probably still too shocked by the latest discoveries. "Materia? That's-"

"I know what it is," the blond said curtly, although a half-hidden smile was playing on his lips as well. "It wasn't me the one choosing that name. And he swears he chose it _before_ that guy gave it to animal poop."

"Who are you talking about? Kakashi?"

"Kakashi?" Naruto repeated. "What? No, not him. I'm talking about the Kyuubi. He invented the name, or so he says."

"He…" Sakura hesitated before continuing, "talks?"

"Ugh… yeah. He learnt as I learnt. He's lived with me since the day I was born after all."

"And you are…" It was Sasuke's turn to hesitate. "Friends?"

"Yeah, sure!" The blond's voice dripped with sarcasm. "He's more annoying than you, Kakashi and Tazuna combined!

"Hey!" the bridge-builder protested but Naruto ignored him.

"You can't have a normal conversation with him," the boy continued. "He thinks he knows better and he's ready to tell you all the time."

"Is he saying something right now?" Tazuna wanted to know curiously.

"Nah. He generally rears his ugly head only when his safety, which coincides with mine, is concerned. Sometimes days pass without me hearing from him and sometimes he just can't shut up."

"Are we talking about the same Kyuubi here?" Sasuke asked skeptically. "You're making it sound like a grumpy uncle instead of an evil monster."

"Oh, he colors himself an evil monster all the time," Naruto agreed. "I can't even think about some things he told me, so gross and gruesome. But at least he's honest. He doesn't hide the fact he's going to kill me painfully as soon as he gets out of my body. Not that I'm letting it happen… ever." He frowned thoughtfully as he paused for a long second. "But, you know, it's hard to think about him in such bad terms all the time."

"Why is that?" Sakura asked, fascinated.

The jinchuuriki took a little time to elaborate on that. "I think it's because he's harmless."

"Harmless?" Tazuna repeated in disbelief.

"Yeah. I-" The blond flinched badly. "I can't repeat what he's calling me right now for saying that, but it's the truth. He's totally powerless inside my body. Every past fight he brings up, every morbid or immoral things he says… even the threats he's making now… they all sound somewhat hollow or distant to me. I'm sorry, Fox, but it's like this."

A long moment of silence followed during which Tazuna and Team 7 contemplated what Naruto had said, a small part of them feeling almost sympathetic towards the nine-tailed demon. Then the blond gasped suddenly before blushing madly.

"That was uncalled for, _really_ uncalled for, bastard!" he said in outrage. "I was only telling them what I thought… I didn't mean to hurt your feelings!" There was another pause and then the jinchuuriki just huffed in annoyance. "Oh, shut up! I really need to learn how to cut you off one of these days…"

Naruto reddened some more when he seemed to remember the others were still there. "Sorry about that," he said, shrugging self-consciously. "As you can see, we don't have the best of relationships. He's often a real pain in the ass. But he's funny in a strange way. And useful at times."

"How so?" Sasuke asked. He and Sakura were openly interested now, contrary to Tazuna who looked almost disturbed by the boy-demon exchange.

"Well, for example, it was thanks to him that I could shake off Zabuza's killing intent," the jinchuuriki explained excitedly, leaning forward and lowering his voice as if he didn't want to be heard by outsiders… or maybe insiders. "The Kyuubi… he thought it was ridiculous. He laughed so hard it was difficult for me to take the situation seriously at one point."

The others gulped slightly at that revelation, thinking back at that terrifying pressure they had all felt to their bones. Ridiculous? They hadn't thought so.

"He also knows lots of stuff," Naruto resumed, straightening again. "And he remembers everything, and I mean literally. On top of all that, though… there are the Materia."

"Your little stones?" Sasuke guessed.

"Yeah." The blond rolled up his sleeves and showed them to the others. "They look like stones to you but not to me. I see them for what they really are because my chakra is similar to the Kyuubi's and that's what they are."

"Chakra?" Sakura said skeptically.

"Pretty much. The Fox' last attack in his battle against the Yondaime became these. There are countless Materia scattered around the world, according to him, every one with a different, unique power."

Sasuke peered at them closely. "May I see it?"

Naruto shrugged and then pulled one out of his left holster. "Here. This is the Lightning Materia." He passed it to the dark-haired boy who passed it to Sakura after a brief inspection. "You can't use it. Only I can."

"Because of the Kyuubi?" Tazuna asked, using his turn to take a good look at the sphere. "Hey, it's super smooth!"

"You probably know all the Materia I have by now," Naruto admitted, taking the stone back from the bridge-builder and equipping it again. "Lightning, Ice, Fire, Restore-"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Sakura interrupted him suddenly. "Did you say ice?"

"Uh-uh."

"As in frozen water?" the girl wanted to know.

The others exchanged a doubtful glance. "Is there another kind of ice?"

"Idiot!" she bristled. "Don't you know it's impossible to perform Ice ninjutsu unless you're from a particular bloodline? It's one of the elemental-recomposed nature types!"

"Oh, yeah," Naruto said, finally remembering. "The Kyuubi told me something like that as well. He said his last attack against the Yondaime was pure chakra, so it held practically every possible elemental affinity on top of both spiritual and physical kinds of skills. He said I will have a real arsenal by the time I find every Materia."

"You said Fire, also," Sasuke said when it looked like Sakura was too stunned to speak. He resumed when the blond nodded. "How is it compared to my Great Fireball?"

The jinchuuriki scowled at him. "Why do you want to know?" The Uchiha just shrugged and Naruto rolled his eyes. "Fine. Yours bigger. Happy now?"

Sasuke didn't quite hide his smug smile.

"As I was saying," the blond resumed surly, "Fire, Lightning, Ice, Restore – which is the healing one you saw… Kyuubi's name, not mine – All, Cover, Steal and Enemy Skill."

"Enemy skill?" Tazuna repeated curiously.

"That's right!" Naruto regained his smile at that as he grinned madly. "I just discovered its power. My clones had it equipped during the fight against Zabuza and guess what? When that Bunshin got trapped inside the Water Prison, he learnt it! I think the Materia captured the technique or something 'cause if I pull it out I can't use that jutsu anymore."

"So the Materia copies ninjutsu…" Sakura commented, turning to her crush. "It sounds like the Sharingan, doesn't it, Sasuke? Only it needs to undergo the effects of a jutsu instead of just watching it."

"They look similar at a glance, but…" The Uchiha hmmed noncommittally with his brow furrowed. "You said your clones had it equipped during the fight, right? Did they learn Zabuza's swordplay?" He resumed after the blond shook his head. "Thought so. The Sharingan would have copied and filed away that as well. I think your Materia is more complicated than that."

"Yeah, they're never really that simple," Naruto admitted. "I always have to test them at length before understanding them completely. That's what I meant about the Cover Materia and you not knowing how it worked."

"Cover Materia? Is it the one allowing you to appear to block an attack?" Sakura asked.

The blond nodded. "I don't control that power at all! I only know it works two times out of ten, more or less, but it activates pretty randomly and independently of whatever I want. That's what I meant with 'you got lucky' actually."

"Well," Sasuke said after a moment of stunned silence in which a number of morbid possibilities coursed through his mind, "I admit I didn't think it _could_ fail, but even after this new information, there were…hmmm… a dozen Kage Bunshin at the time, I think, so odds were still pretty good."

Naruto snorted. "Whatever, Teme. Risky and reckless don't begin to cover it."

"At least I punched that bastard," the Uchiha said haughtily. "What did you do aside from sending a bunch of clones to the slaughter?"

"I saved Kakashi from being imprisoned! _I_ gave _you_ the chance to punch him!" the blond retorted immediately. "And what good did your punch do anyway? He barely noticed it!"

Sakura once again jumped in before the argument could become violent. "Stop! I think we should go now. Kakashi-sensei needs to rest in a bed, not on the road."

Sasuke grudgingly refrained from resuming the discussion and nodded curtly. Naruto smiled smugly at him and that earned him a punch from the pink-haired girl that sent him to the ground.

"See?" he told the dark-haired boy as he rubbed the rapidly forming bump on his head. "The Cover Materia didn't bother with saving me this time."

The Uchiha rolled his eyes but was internally a little disturbed by the thought. He helped his teammate up and waited for the clones to pick up Kakashi again.

They walked briskly down the road to Tazuna's house, speaking about Materia and the Kyuubi as they went. Both Sasuke and Sakura offered some interesting insight in Naruto's opinion, and in general it was nice to talk about those topics with someone that wasn't the Demon. The blond had never shared something so important for him with his peers and it felt like a new and thrilling experience.

He was smiling happily by the time they finally reached the house, the new Materia he was sensing only widening his grin. He would send a clone to retrieve it soon, but for the time being he would just spend some quality time with his precious teammates.

* * *

Author's notes - So... Naruto shared his secrets with Team 7. A little early? Maybe, but I tried to keep in mind that my Naruto didn't find out about the Kyuubi in a traumatic way like in canon. A little un-ninja-like? Sure, but has Naruto ever been anything but?

The plan is to end the Wave arc (if it can be called that) in the next chapter, but I don't know if I'll manage. There are quite a few scenes I want to write before the inevitable fight against Zabuza and Haku takes place, but I'll try to keep them short.

Bye.

Uncle Stojil


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

* * *

"Hey, old man!" Naruto called, his voice carrying over the sound of clashing metal and drilling jackhammers. "Where do I put these?"

Tazuna barely glanced at the bunch of timbers over the boy's right shoulder before pointing over at the H-sector. Nobody paid attention to the unbelievable strength of the short blond anymore, not after what they had seen him lift since the day he had started helping out.

The genin put down the wooden girders and dusted his jumpsuit off before doubling back to Tazuna. Seeing as the man was talking with one of his fellow workers, he walked up to the railing and leaned over.

Building a bridge was as hard a work as Naruto had originally thought it would be. The thing was huge, and if it had been up to him, he wouldn't have had the slightest idea about where to begin. He had been working at it for the past five days, and although he had picked up a couple of interesting tricks from the regular guys, there were still so many things out of his grasp it wasn't even funny. That said, he could have learned much more than what he already had if he had really wanted to. Or better, if he hadn't had better things to do.

Meaning training.

The young blond looked at the couple of dozens Kage Bunshin down at the bay. The majority of them was merely practicing the water-walking exercise, but a few had already worked their way up to simple on-water spars. At some point even Sakura had joined that group, he realized noticing the spot of red and pink in the midst of all that orange.

Naruto smiled, wind battering at his face as he followed his clones with his gaze. Water-walking was much more difficult than tree-climbing, but he was finally starting to get the hang of it. He was glad he had convinced Kakashi to teach it to him. The jounin had looked almost disappointed upon realizing he already knew the most basic chakra-control exercise, and had seemed hesitant about teaching him the more advanced one. When Sakura had asked as well, he had finally relented and explained them how it worked.

It had been decided, then, that the two genin would have escorted Tazuna to work on the bridge, the perfect spot for them to train as well, on the condition that Naruto's clones kept the Cover Materia equipped at all times. They had checked to see how far from Tazuna the sphere activated and realized the bay below the bridge was well within the limits.

Sasuke stayed behind at Tazuna's house with the recovering Kakashi. The Uchiha was still struggling to learn the tree-climbing exercise, much to his frustration and Naruto's amusement. That gave the blond bragging rights he never missed the opportunity to exploit and he just couldn't wait to master water-walking to rub that in as well.

"Naruto!" Tazuna called, interrupting his train of thoughts. "Stop daydreaming and give me a hand with these! You said you wanted to learn something, didn't you?"

"As if you've taught me anything until now!" the blond genin shot back in annoyance. "All you do is making me move things from one place to another! If it hadn't been for Gin-san and Gon-san I wouldn't have learned a thing!"

The old client scowled for a moment before relenting under the amused looks of the nearby co-workers. "Come on, I'm gonna show you something super cool this time. Just stop whining."

"You whined first!"

"Hey, you-" He visibly reigned on his temper before continuing between clenched teeth. "You should know I'm the Pier Master around here. You wanna know something about it? Come with me!"

He walked away primly, and after a moment of hesitation, Naruto followed.

Tazuna led him to the K-sector and started explaining how the spot had been trickier than expected. They had finally stabilized it but the next step was crucial and Naruto would help them with that.

The blond worked his ass off for the next couple of hours and felt deeply satisfied when the job ended successfully, although not really thanks to him. When the time finally came, he walked off with a huge smile on his face and jumped down to the bay to spend lunch-break with Sakura.

He found her sprawled on the shore, head leaning against the second pier of the bridge as she looked at the clones still up and at it.

"Sakura-chaaaan!" he called, practically skipping towards her. "I brought lunch!"

The pink-haired girl turned to him and smiled slightly, straightening up. "Tsunami made these, right? I'm starving."

He plopped down next to her and offered the bento box prepared by Tazuna's daughter, before opening his own. He caught a couple of whiffs of it and murmured noncommittally.

"It smells good," he said, not completely convinced. "It's not-"

"Ramen, yeah…" Sakura finished for him with a roll of her eyes, looking too tired to actually berate him. She took a pair of chopsticks and offered it to her pouting teammate. "How's the bridge coming?"

The blond's smile returned to his face in record-time as he beamed at her. "Awesome! Tazuna says it won't be long before it's completed. We solved the problem at the K-sector and we're going to continue down the line this afternoon."

The young kunoichi nodded uncomfortably, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. "Did anyone else…"

She let the question float there unfinished, but she knew the other understood. She had asked it regularly in the past few days, after all.

'Did anyone else quit?' was the complete version of it.

It had happened five days before. Half a dozen of Tazuna's men had walked up to him to tell him they wanted to stop working on the bridge. They were afraid Gatou would take action against them and thought the project wasn't worth losing their lives over.

Naruto had been present at the time and, needless to say, he had been very vocal about it. He just couldn't stand people acting like that, turning their backs on something that was evidently very important for their country and for themselves. His earlier confrontation with Inari had come to his mind and the simple thought that Tazuna's grandson could have been right about heroes, courage and hard work – like Tazuna's co-workers were implying with their decision – had made him hit the roof in anger. He had berated those men for even thinking about it, and if Sakura hadn't stepped in, he would have probably hit someone as well.

The blond's expression soured just at the memory. He had started giving a hand with the bridge right after that, but even _he_ didn't know what he had hoped to accomplish with that. Yes, he was stronger than all of Tazuna's men but his help was hardly invaluable, and his presence there hadn't stopped another batch of cowards from abandoning the construction site the day before, either.

He felt completely useless when he thought about it.

"No," he grumbled eventually. "No one quit today."

"Good," Sakura said at once, a forced cheerful tone in her voice, but she struggled to find anything else to say. "Good."

The cries of his Kage Bunshin training on the water's bay filled the silence that followed as they finished their lunch. Naruto kept scowling at the food, and Sakura had to wonder if he thought that intimidating it with a look it would solve his problems… or maybe turn into ramen.

"I don't know how they can keep it up for so long," the kunoichi eventually said, nodding in the clones' direction. "They've been going at it non-stop since we got here. You're really amazing, you know that?"

After a moment of shocked embarrassment, in a rare moment of insight Naruto interpreted the comment as an attempt to lift his morale. Even knowing that, he couldn't contain a grin while his left hand scratched the back of his head.

"Eh-eh… thank you," he said quietly. "But you have me completely thrashed on water-walking. My clones still lose their footing and drop under the surface at times. You have already mastered the exercise, already."

Much to his surprise, she didn't look very pleased with the praise.

"Much good it does me…"

"Don't say that!" he berated her, frowning. "You're lasting longer and longer every day," he pointed out helpfully. He knew stamina was a sore spot for her and he wanted to return her the favour by cheering _her_ up this time "Your chakra reserves are increasing visibly. I can tell, you know?" And he could, he could since coming into possession of his latest weapon. "You're getting better!"

Sakura smiled at that, looking a bit more determined. "I have to admit I envy that power of yours. More so than Fire or even Ice, that Materia is incredibly useful."

Naruto shrugged slightly, putting down his finished lunch. "It's alright, I guess. I prefer others."

"I bet," the pink-haired girl said with a knowing look. "Not flashy enough, is it?"

The blond grinned. "Among other things, yeah."

"Any luck in deciphering the orange bar?" she asked then and he frowned.

A week had already passed since the discovering of his newest Materia and he wasn't any closer to solving the mystery of the orange bar than he had then. The power of the yellow sphere, which he had later dubbed Sense Materia, consisted in performing a through scan of the person he targeted and showing him their fighting characteristics. It worked easily enough, pretty much like the Steal Materia did. As long as he had it equipped, the ability to see through others' traits was as accessible as walking or talking. It didn't require chakra nor did it give itself away with flashy circles of light, which was definitely a plus in Naruto's opinion – if he decided he wanted to study an enemy, he didn't want them to know that. The only condition for its use was that the holder had to keep the target inside his visual field for the information to appear.

Then the process was instantaneous as what looked like colourful graphs of various length unfolded horizontally as if on a digital screen. It reminded Naruto of the few lessons with a computer back at the Academy he hadn't skipped. The bars also lit up flashingly whenever what they actually represented came into play, which had helped a lot in discovering what they meant.

The problem with understanding this new Materia was that there was neither a graph caption nor a legend accompanying its effects, making it difficult to pinpoint what exactly it showed. Only thanks to the joint effort of the Kyuubi and Team 7, Naruto had been able to decipher all the colourful bars.

All but the orange one, that is.

He glanced at the group of Kage Bunshin who was standing safely on the shore, watching their fellow clones fighting. He had appointed them to keep the Sense Materia activated and observe the training in the hope to unravel its last secret. He considered their expressions for a brief second.

"They don't look very happy," he said eventually. "I doubt they discovered anything new. Besides, they would have called me if they had. I told them to."

Sakura sighed and shook her head.

"What trait could _orange_ possibly represent?" she wondered aloud with a little smirk. "Apart from the power to annoy people, I mean?"

"Hey!" the blond protested.

Her smirk widened a little as she stood up.

"Thank you for the lunch," she said, dusting her skirt. "Time to pick up my training. I've rested enough for today."

She walked resolutely down the shore while Naruto wished her luck. He watched as she joined the group of Kage Bunshin simply standing still on the water before moving his gaze to the group sparring lightly not far from them.

A clone's flying kick had just missed when a stream of unexpected images flowed into his brain and into those of his copies training in front of him. The Bunshin still in the air sported a very puzzled look as the surprising set of memories disrupted his concentration and made him drop underwater. The other clones stopped their movements as well, as they dealt with these strange new pieces of information.

Naruto himself blinked owlishly as he thought about what had happened in a quiet clearing of the large forest nearby. A Shadow clone, one of the few stationed around Tazuna's house, had just dispelled himself after taking part to a quite weird conversation with a girlish boy, who had actually turned out to be also a ninja in the end.

Or at least, as strong as one.

The boy and the clone had met near the clearing where Sasuke was practicing the tree-walking exercise, and they had talked about precious people, of all things. The kid had been nice throughout the whole conversation as they had looked for some kind of medical plant that grew in the forest, and he had looked and sounded harmless all the while. He had left with the revelation of his true – and baffling – gender. That was when the Kage Bunshin had had the idea to check with his newest Materia, which in retrospect didn't make much sense considering it showed completely different things from gender, but it turned out useful anyway, as it revealed the girlish boy's strength.

Pointing his eyes at the retreating figure and using his newest skill, the clone had watched as different bars of various length and colour had appeared all around the small figure. Despite having experienced that countless times already, it was still fascinating to see the graphs materialize so suddenly. They had filled most of the space in his peripheral vision, their tones clear enough to let him see what was beyond, although tinged according to their colours.

And they had showed that the boy was no civilian, though he was no jounin either. He was as fast as Sasuke – who Naruto hated to admit was a bit faster than him – and had almost as much chakra control as Sakura – who completely shamed Naruto in that department – despite having something like ten times the amount the kunoichi had – which was the equivalent of a spit in a swimming pool as far as the jinchuuriki was concerned, instead. The boy's physical strength was nothing to brag about, though.

As the clone who had dropped underwater returned to the surface before inexplicably diving once again, Naruto thought back at what the mysterious ninja had said. If fighting for someone else made you stronger like he had explained, then the boy had to have a very precious someone in his life.

"Boss! Boss!"

Naruto raised his head to look at the weird Kage Bunshin of before, now floating at little distance from his fighting copies, waving his arm to attract his attention.

"What is it?" the original blond shouted back, cupping his hands around the mouth and standing up.

"Great news!" was the other's yelled reply and Naruto had to blink, puzzled.

"And you got them underwater?"

"Yes! There's a Materia somewhere down here!"

Everybody stopped what they were doing and turned to the swimming clone. "Really?"

"Yeah! I can't really see much and it feels very far anyway, but you can only sense it when you're underwater!"

Without a moment of hesitation, every Kage Bunshin around simply stopped channelling chakra to their feet and dropped below the surface.

"Hey!" Sakura shouted indignantly as some of the splashes reached her.

A few seconds later, they began to reappear and shout that yes, there was really a Materia underwater, seemingly far away.

"What are we waiting for, then?" Naruto said excitedly from the shore. He pointed at the copy who had first sensed the sphere. "You! Go get it!"

It turned out that it was easier said than done. The Materia was so deep into the bay that no clone was able to even get a good look at it before running out of breath and puffing out, and only Sakura's intervention stopped Naruto from going himself and most likely die trying.

"At least wait until tomorrow!" she reasoned while standing heroically between the bay and the boy. "I'm sure Kakashi knows a way to get to it easily… and without drowning."

The blond relented at that and decided that it probably was a good idea. It wasn't like the stone would go anywhere, after all. As Sakura sighed tiredly and resumed her training, he went back to working with Tazuna and tried his best to keep his mind off the nearby Materia, not really succeeding.

* * *

The next day, Naruto departed from Tazuna's house with a huge smile on his face and an air-mask in his hands. Only the latter made it to the bridge.

Upon arriving, in fact, the first thing he saw was Gon-san and four other workers lying on the ground.

"Gon-san!" he shouted, immediately running up to him. The mask fell to the ground, already forgotten.

"Wha-what happened?" a clearly distressed Tazuna followed.

They crouched beside the man and realized with some relief that he was alive.

"A-a monster," he slurred feebly. As he talked, a rivulet of blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

In the meantime, Sasuke was checking on another worker. He had finally learnt the tree-climbing exercise and had been allowed to come with them, and it actually seemed like that would be a stroke of luck.

"This one's only unconscious," he said quietly.

"Naruto, there's no time for that now!" Kakashi said quickly. "Bring Tazuna-san back here, hurry!"

After a moment of hesitation, the blond escorted the client to where Kakashi and Sakura had taken a defensive position and a beat later Sasuke joined them as well. Naruto was turning his head left and right to try and spot whoever had done this, but a familiar mist was slowly masking everything around them.

"So it _was_ a trick!" he growled heatedly, thinking back at the possibly fake hunter-nin. "He's still alive!"

There was a derisive laugh rising out of the fog, and like last time, it was impossible to pinpoint where it came from.

"Of course I'm alive, brat," Zabuza's disembodied voice said from nowhere and everywhere. "And I've come to take your head!"

The missing-nin's killing intent crashed against them like a physical presence but Naruto was ready this time around and he didn't even need the Kyuubi's cackle to shrug it off.

"Shaking again, eh poor kid?" the Mist shinobi continued and Naruto had barely the time to realize he was talking about Sasuke before a dozen Zabuzas suddenly appeared all around them.

As he called forth chakra to unleash his Materia, he heard the Uchiha reply.

"I'm shaking from excitement!"

Green light flashed in a circle around him, immediately followed by six balls of fire magically appearing underneath the nearest swordsmen, consuming them with a roar. As they burst out in harmless splashes of water, Naruto idly noticed that the ones behind him had met the same end with the compliments of one smug Uchiha. The blond grinned. After seeing all those Suiton jutsu thrown around in the first battle, pairing the All Materia with the Fire one had been the obvious choice, but he was glad it had already worked out to his advantage.

As Sasuke returned his smirk in kind, he braced himself for the next attack.

"Well, well, well," Zabuza said and they all turned to look at him as he came out of the mist with the fake hunter-nin on his side. "It looks like you will have some fun, Haku."

The small figure, Haku apparently, nodded slowly. "It does indeed."

Naruto took a moment to quietly scan them with his Sense Materia. He had to shudder and then scowl at the missing-nin. Looking at his long graphs was like looking at Kakashi's – highly humbling and a little depressing. That was one of the reasons why he wasn't as enthusiastic as Sakura about his newest Materia. It made him awfully conscious of the very long way he had yet to go to reach his dream.

He soon moved his gaze to scan the other shinobi who seemed-

"You're the boy from yesterday!" he gasped, easily recognizing his stats and then his appearances as those of the girlish ninja who had talked to his Kage Bunshin the day before. He blinked at him in confusion. "What- why?"

There was a moment of silence and the blond wondered if Zabuza's companion was surprised under that mask of his.

"Hello, Naruto," he said simply.

"Naruto, how do you know him?" Sakura asked with a disgruntled look.

The orange-clad genin was still short of words, his eyes shifting confusedly from the boy to the Mist shinobi while his mind thought back at their past encounters.

"One of my clones met him in the forest," he eventually said. "I didn't know he was the fake hunter-nin. If I had…"

But he had to stop because he didn't know what came next. If he had known… what would he have done?

"I'll fight him," Sasuke declared after that, advancing forward and away from their group.

Annoyance overruled his indecision and Naruto took a step forward as well.

"I'll fight him too!" he fired back and the Uchiha snorted.

"Don't get in my way, Dobe."

"It's you who should stay out of mine, Teme!"

"Could you, maybe, work together?" Kakashi amicably interrupted their banter. "Just a suggestion."

The two looked at each other in distrust but then nodded.

"Alright, let's cream this poser!" the blond said seriously, shoving everything else in the back of his mind.

Sasuke only grunted in reply.

"Sakura, step in front of Tazuna-san and don't leave my side," the silver-haired jounin ordered and the girl immediately complied. "We'll let them handle him."

As soon as he had said that, Naruto's attention was drawn back forward, as a whirl of motion materialized in front of him. Even as he dodged to the left, the boy identified as Haku grazed his shoulder with a fist while his other hand, wielding a senbon, clashed against Sasuke's kunai.

The blond kept on moving, his fingers forming the beloved cross-shaped seal for the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. Twenty clones appeared and immediately equipped the Cover Materia in the only empty slot of their left holster. A couple of them charged the masked boy from behind but were dispelled as he spun around and threw a handful of senbon in a circle.

That action gave Sasuke an opening and he immediately struck with his kunai, only to see it deflected at the last moment. He continued the movement with a left kick that his opponent was a bit too slow to parry, and the blow drove the enemy back a couple of feet.

One of the clones pounced on the boy for a flying kick but, again, Haku's superior speed worked to his advantage and the copy was dispelled.

Naruto too ran at him now, in the wake of the Bunshin gone up in smoke, fist shooting forward and aimed at the boy's face. He didn't know why but he felt a deep desire to break the boy's mask, to see his expression and look into his eyes. The punch was dodged, however, and he saw Haku's hand rise up towards his neck.

A clone suddenly materialized between them, took the blow in his stead and burst like an empty balloon. Perhaps having instinctively expected this, Naruto ignored the smoke and slammed his right foot squarely into his opponent's stomach, earning a satisfying _oof_ in reply and tossing him away. Sasuke jumped in the air incredibly quick but his five shuriken only embedded on the bridge floor as Haku managed to roll backwards and then laterally.

The boy had barely stood up and he had already completed a series of seals, and one-handed to boot. Gasping in surprise, Naruto saw as the water from Zabuza's Bunshin rose all around him and his clones. Shaping into countless of senbon, the water needles soon converged on them. It was a cool jutsu and he wouldn't have minded learning it like he had learnt the Water Prison technique, if only his Enemy Skill Materia listened to what he had to say. But the sphere worked differently – he knew that now, after days of testing – either choosing what to copy randomly or based on some yet to be discovered criteria, he still didn't know. These flying water senbon of death were not impressive enough, apparently, for no knowledge of the jutsu appeared in his mind when they rained down on him.

The blond waited for the various popping sounds to stop resonating in his ears and then sprang out of the thick cloud of smoke that had gathered mostly around him, as his copies' Cover Materia activated to protect him.

He jumped into the clear air again, noticing how every last one of the clones had been dispelled, and couldn't help but exhale loudly in seeing that Sasuke had been out of the range of the attack. He was also pursuing the enemy already, his slim body moving deftly around Haku. The Uchiha finally landed a very vicious kick to the boy's face and Zabuza's companion was thrown back, right at the Mist shinobi's feet.

"Looks like I have the advantage in speed," the dark-haired boy said smugly while Haku adjusted his mask.

Naruto snorted.

"I hit him too but you don't see me bragging," he mumbled under his breath, but Sasuke heard him.

"I hit him twice," he countered. "And his butt is still on the ground for the second blow."

"Oh yeah?" The blond huffed as he walked up to his teammate. They were getting farther and farther away from Tazuna and the rest of the team, and the three figures now appeared blurred in the drifting mist. "What about these, then?" he asked, producing a large bundle of needles from one of his pockets. "Did you by chance steal all of his senbon? I don't think so!"

It was Sasuke's time to snort at that. "Big deal. He can make thousands of others out of damn water!"

"I didn't know _that_!" the jinchuuriki snapped back. "I took these things before that!"

Zabuza's laughter stopped their argument.

"Haku," he told his companion in amusement, "do you realize that at this rate we'll be driven back?"

"Yeah," the masked boy replied, standing up and forming seals. "We can't have that."

Naruto looked around as the water still on the bridge shot up in the air and surrounded him and Sasuke. In a split of a second, as a sudden cold chilled his spine, it had coalesced into dozens of large ice mirrors connected together by numerous plinths made of ice as well.

"What's this?" he wondered aloud, staring at the building of sorts that had formed around them.

Before he could realize that fleeing was most probably a good idea, every escape route was perfectly blocked as what could have been described as an ice-dome trapped them inside.

"Hey, I can do Ice ninjutsu too," he said nervously, not really thinking that a comparison between this complex-looking technique and his quite simpler Materia was a fair one. But when he saw Haku physically _enter_ one of the mirrors, he was forced to add, "Okay, I can't do _that_."

The masked boy was perfectly reflected in every surface of the ice-dome now, and he seemed to be looking at them with complete calm.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't want to use this jutsu, but you didn't leave me any other choice."

His voice sounded like it was coming from every one of his reflections, and Naruto was left turning left and right in confusion.

"Which is the real one?" he asked Sasuke, but no answer came.

"I'll show you my real speed," Haku declared, then.

The next attack was little more than a blur. Naruto's eyes strained in vain to follow the enemy's movement as he flew from one mirror to the other like a crazy pinball, slashing him and Sasuke with what looked like an ice-senbon as he went.

And that was the other reason why he couldn't agree with his teammate's opinion on his Sense Materia. The thing was somewhat flawed, clearly. It could give him an estimation of what to expect from the enemy, but it obviously couldn't take into account things like special abilities or techniques. Naruto's own enhanced healing, for example, inherited from the Kyuubi, wasn't considered at all by his defensive bars, which should have been much longer than what his Materia showed him and instead put him unfairly just above Sasuke in the department. He had hated that when he had seen it.

Haku, here, was another perfect example of the sphere's flaw.

When he had used it to scan the boy, both a few minutes earlier and the day before, he had been showed that his speed was more or less on par with Sasuke's. While it could have been considered true – or close to true anyway – before the appearance of the ice mirrors of doom, it was now utterly and patently _wrong_.

After trying to catch the masked shinobi only to catch needles on his arms instead, Naruto was showered by another huge barrage of senbon that pierced his legs. A cry of pain escaped his lips as he joined Sasuke on the ground, both of them trying their best impressions of porcupines.

When he looked up again, he saw that Haku was only visible in the mirror in front of them, now.

"I don't want to have to kill you if possible, nor I want you to have to kill me, but if you come at me, I will destroy my heart and turn myself into a true, heartless shinobi." His tone turned solemn as he continued. "This bridge will be the battleground where we defend our dreams. My dreams are Zabuza's and I'll protect them even if I die. For he is precious to me."

He then raised his hands, ice senbon appearing between his fingers. His voice too seemed to become suddenly chilly.

"For him, I will kill you."

Naruto slowly stood up, glaring at the boy and idly noticing that Sasuke was giving him the same look.

"I can't die here," he said resolutely, "because I will become Hokage!"

That said, he threw himself at the mirror, his flying kick impacting violently against it. The ice wasn't in any way affected, nor was the masked boy residing in it.

"Dobe!"

He turned around quickly only to see the Teme bringing his fingers up to his lips. He barely had the time to dive out of the way before Sasuke's Great Fireball hit Haku's image. When the flames had receded a little, though, it was clear that even the Uchiha's ninjutsu had obtained no better results than his kick.

"It didn't do anything!" the blond cursed.

"You can't melt this ice with that level of fire," Zabuza's companion calmly informed them.

"That's what you think!" Naruto shot back stubbornly. He brought his hands up to form his favourite seal and looked on in determination as fifty clones appeared both inside and outside the dome. Pointing grandly at the mirror in which Haku was dwelling, he shouted at the top of his lungs.

"FIRE!"

Green light flashed everywhere, and for a brief second, nothing seemed to happen, the proverbial calm before the storm. Then an interminable series of painfully loud roars began and a continuous stream of flames rose from underneath most of the mirrors, as clone after clone called up the power of their Fire and All Materia combined. After a moment of hesitation under the overwhelming burst of heat, Sasuke joined the fray as well with his family ninjutsu.

Haku seemed to regard the attack with a bit of apprehension. He couldn't even move from his mirror now, because his position was constantly subjected to a torrent of flames that threatened to burn him to a crisp should he poke his face out of the ice. Instead of flying from reflection to reflection, the masked boy was forced to simply throw out ice senbon against the army assaulting him. Despite the movement limitation, though, the small weapons were very effective against one-hit enemies such as Kage Bunshin, even after passing through the terrible heat inside the dome. Naruto positively snarled as he once again called the power of fire from his Materia.

Clones were starting to go up in smoke all around them now, as Haku had apparently decided to get rid of them quickly before the flames could seriously affect his construction. Needles started piercing Naruto more frequently as the number of Cover-equipped Kage Bunshin thinned significantly.

"Damn it!" Sasuke cursed, frantically trying to avoid the small weapons flying around. "Fire isn't doing us any good!"

Naruto cursed as well while a senbon missed his right eye by inches. His teammate seemed to be fairing a bit better as far as dodging went – he was also trying to catch their enemy, occasionally – but it was clear he couldn't last long either.

"Trying to follow my movements with your eyes is impossible," Haku said calmly, once again able to move from one mirror to another now that the Fire attacks had reduced drastically. "You'll never be able to catch me. This jutsu uses the other reflections to transport me supremely fast and I can also attack you from inside a mirror should you trap me in one like before."

"Shut up!" Naruto snapped.

Haku seemed to ignore him. "From my point of view you seem to be moving in slow motion."

The blond quickly created as many clones as he could, feeling decidedly light-headed as a staggering amount of chakra left his body. The flames all around the dome were immediately renewed, though, as hundreds of fresh Bunshin completely replaced the dispelled ones.

At the same time, the sound of his copies puffing out of existence started to pick up as well, and more and more were materializing to take a needle for him, as now, for the most part, Zabuza's companion seemed to be targeting him personally. Despite Haku's incredible speed, though, it seemed that the Cover Materia was more than able to keep up with him. And at least, all the dead clones were returning their chakra to him. He was already feeling much better.

Countless ice senbon were thrown in his precise direction, but now that they were only coming from one mirror, as Haku was once again stuck in a single slab of ice, they were also easier to defend against, even though the blond could hardly follow their speed.

'_Naruto,_' the Kyuubi suddenly called through their mental link. He sounded perfectly calm too, as if completely unconcerned by the raging inferno going on around them. '_You should take a look at your Fire Materia_.'

Startled by the clear sound of the demon's voice even in all that noise, the blond's gaze shifted to his left arm, where a strange bulge had appeared under the orange sleeve.

Rolling it up to the elbow quickly, he looked in awe at how much bigger the Fire Materia in his holster had become, as dozens after dozens of Kage Bunshin had used its great power. The thought of the stone outgrowing its slot had just passed through his mind when suddenly the experience piled up until that point reached the next level.

"Is this-" he started to say, but had to stop.

With a piercing crash that could be heard even over the roaring fire around, the sphere seemed to actually fall apart. What was possibly just its outer shell simply shattered into countless, fine pieces that dropped to the ground, immediately forgotten. Naruto's eyes instead were completely focused on the sphere that was left behind, safely equipped in the holster and so small he wouldn't have thought it was a Materia at all if not for the easily recognizable green colour.

'_Don't let the size fool you,_' the Kyuubi whispered to him. '_Now it's much more powerful than before_."

A senbon pierced through his left calf, effectively reminding him of the battle that was taking place around him. As he peeled his eyes off the small stone, an excited breath left his mouth, and when he turned towards the nearest mirror and called up chakra, he couldn't help the large grin twisting his lips.

It was impossible not to notice the difference between this second level jutsu and the first level one, as he poured something like six times the normal amount of energy behind the technique. Instead of the usual relatively large ball of fire, what followed the green light surrounding him this time was a thick pillar of flames rising up from the ground to the ice ceiling and devouring the nearest mirror as it went. There was also the possibility that it lasted longer than its smaller counterpart, but Naruto couldn't be sure with all the chaos that was going on under the dome. The Kyuubi cackling in his head wasn't helping much either.

What he _was_ sure of, instead, was the loud cracking sound that followed his attack, as the targeted mirror shook dangerously on its plinths. When the blond attacked again, the noise tripled in intensity as first that mirror and then that half of the dome crumbled to the ground. Kage Bunshin cheered from the other side of the ruins and Naruto quickly joined them, happily leaving that damn ice-trap behind.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a dark shape fly through the air to intercept what was the unmistakable blur of Haku, as he shot out of another collapsing mirror with part of his kimono on fire. The boy's hand was yanked downward, hard, and his body slammed to the ground, the impact violent enough to extinguish the flames on his clothes.

Sasuke kept him pinned there as more clones cheered happily.

"No way," Haku mumbled, face flattened to the bridge while a kunai was held at his throat. "You followed my movements? How?"

Naruto approached them quickly and couldn't contain the gasp as the Uchiha answered.

"I can see you better now."

Inside Sasuke's eyes, the Sharingan was blazing hungrily.

* * *

Author's notes – The Sense Materia was a huge pain in the ass. It's probably the FFVII aspect that fits less with the Naruto manga. I had to alter it a little, too, and let's just say I'm not exactly delighted by the result. Anyway, the new chapter is coming out soon.

Uncle Stojil


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

* * *

"Uhm… wow, Teme," Naruto said, staring in surprise. He made vague gestures in his teammate's direction. "You've got the… uhm… thing…"

Sasuke glanced up at him.

"Yes, I can feel it," he said him smugly. "How many tomoes did I get?"

"… one in the left eye and two in the right," the blond informed him, a bit freaked out by how pleased the dark-haired boy appeared. As his remaining clones gathered around to take a good look at the Uchiha, the original scowled at them. "See if Kakashi and Sakura-chan need some help instead of staring! Really!"

Sasuke smirked slightly, still obviously proud of himself.

The only remaining blond shook his head as his copies disappeared into the mist. Then he nodded at the captured ninja firmly in his teammate's grip. "Shouldn't we tie him up or something?"

"What?" Haku blurted out in surprise, jerking up as much as he could despite his awkward position face to the ground. "You can't let me live!"

"Huh?" Naruto said in puzzlement even as he moved to help with the rope. "What are you talking about?"

The defeated shinobi let out a long breath and tried to recompose himself after his outburst. "I thought you understood. My life is completely devoted to Zabuza-sama and his dreams, but he has no use for a weak tool such as myself. You took away my reason for existing and now you have to kill me."

Even Sasuke was frowning openly at that point, and after properly tying the boy's hands behind his back, he turned him around so he could face them. He took great care in keeping the kunai at his throat at all times as he took off the battered mask of the enemy.

"A tool?" Naruto repeated uncomprehendingly in the meantime. "Even though I don't know how you could think that of a bad guy like him, Zabuza is your precious person and you are his! You're not a tool! Why would you throw your life away?"

Haku's dark eyes stared sadly up at him. "Every shinobi is a tool. A weapon for others to wield at need. For you is your Village. For me is Zabuza-sama."

"That's not true!" the blond immediately shot back in outrage. "We're not just tools! We're more than that!"

The girlish boy shook his head. "That's just how it is."

Naruto glanced at Sasuke as if in search of support, but it looked like the Uchiha agreed with that horrible –_ horrible!_ – view of things. The orange-clad genin reeled back in shock. His mouth worked silently for a while as his brain tried to wrap around what was being said. As his mind started conjuring images of Iruka, Kakashi and finally Ojiisan, what little trace of doubt that could have possibly existed inside of him disappeared right there and then. There was no way – _no way!_ – that his precious people, no matter the role of leader or teacher they held in his life, only considered him a tool and nothing else.

"That's not _how it is_!" he practically snarled. "And if Zabuza really thinks so low of you, then he doesn't deserve to be your precious person, anyway! And now shut up!"

The blond ignored Sasuke's intent look – thankfully with once again normal eyes – and started dragging the struggling prisoner down the bridge. The mist was clearing by now and he could already make out the figures of his Kage Bunshin, Kakashi, Zabuza and… dogs?

He felt like cheering when he finally saw what was going on. Eight dogs of different size and pedigree, all wearing blue vests and Leaf hitai-ite, were keeping the Mist shinobi from moving, their mouths closed around the missing-nin's limbs, shoulders and sword in an inextricable grip. The smallest of them was dangling down the man's midsection, but his contribution looked unnecessary other than a bit bizarre.

Naruto would have laughed if at that point Kakashi hadn't started making seals. Immediately, Haku's struggling doubled in intensity as he let out a terrified gasp, and Sasuke had to step up to him and grab him on the other side to stop the boy from escaping. A strange, eerie glow suddenly appeared around Kakashi's right hand, and soon enough, what looked like controlled lightning was crackling in the silence. It sounded like a flock of birds chirping madly, and they were loud enough to almost drown out the jounin's voice when he spoke.

"I'll ask once more," the silver-haired ninja said, sharingan blazing in the electrical blue glow. "Surrender now."

There was a small smile on Zabuza's face when he answered a second later.

"Bite me."

The dogs growled and Kakashi moved.

Haku tried to shoulder Sasuke aside, but the Uchiha held steady. Snarling furiously, the boy aimed a kick at Naruto but lost his balance under his captors' pressure and he missed completely. He could only stare ahead powerlessly at the scene unfolding before his eyes.

"Noooooo!"

The scream escaping his throat was blood-chilling, so full of raw fear and desperation that Naruto's fingers around the boy's arm slackened altogether, any semblance of strength leaving their muscles completely. He was lucky Haku didn't seem to be fairing any better as his legs gave way and he sank to his knees helplessly. Kakashi's eyes seemed to flicker towards their little group for a brief instant but he didn't stop.

When his hand met Zabuza's stomach, it went through as if it had barely met paper. The controlled bolts of electricity continued slithering around his fingers until they reappeared on the other side of the missing-nin's body, a good portion of his arm having completely gone through.

The Mist shinobi coughed out once, blood adding up to the copious amount that had already splattered onto and all around Kakashi. When the dogs let go of him and the jounin withdrew his arm, his body fell down backwards, the huge sword joining him on the ground an instant later.

Naruto couldn't take his eyes off him and the hypnotically hollow hole in his belly. He found himself wondering morbidly if, looking right through the injury, he could have seen the stone pavement of the bridge beyond.

Haku was shaking impossibly now, sobbing uncontrollably in a series of loud hiccups, as he started crawling weakly in his companion's direction, hands still tied up behind his back. Sasuke followed him a step behind and the blond forced himself to do the same. His legs initially struggled to comply with his brain's order but he eventually joined his teammate standing over the dying body of one Momochi Zabuza.

"I-I-I'm s-sorry," Haku blurted out between sobs, head leaning over him.

The man seemed to make a huge effort in raising one hand to touch the boy's back.

"Ha-Haku," he said, or tried to, anyway. "You… did… w-well…"

Haku, if possible, cried even harder. He mumbled something incomprehensible and collapsed down on his companion's chest when the ninja's eyes finally shut close.

"Sasuke," Kakashi called, effectively reminding Naruto that there was a whole world beyond the two bodies at his feet, "move him out of the way."

The jounin, his left eye once again covered by the head-protector, was advancing with a thick rope in his hands. When the Teme eventually managed to pry the crying boy off his companion, he started to tie up the fallen swordsman.

"No! Let go!" Haku screeched, thrashing wildly in Sasuke's grip. "What are you doing to him?"

The silver-haired ninja completely ignored him in favour of gesturing at his other student to step forward.

"Naruto, see if you can patch him up some," he said, gesturing down at Zabuza even as he continued to tie his feet together, "at least until we can get him to a medic. I think your jutsu will be more effective than mine, especially if you can spam it like everything else you do."

"What?" Haku asked quietly. He had stopped sobbing sometime during Kakashi's explanation.

"I made sure to avoid the heart," he said, standing up with another length of rope. He walked up to Sasuke, helped him put his prisoner to the ground and tightened it around his ankles. "He'll live. For now."

Naruto had a small smile on his face as he started using his Restore Materia on Zabuza. Immediately, the bite marks on his limbs and shoulders closed and disappeared as if they had never been there. There was also a minor shifting inside his more serious wound, but the hole continued to look as awful as before. The blond didn't lose heart, though, and repeated the jutsu again and again. After a few tries, there appeared a few improvements and he checked with his Sense Materia to confirm them. Two of his clones joined him, eventually, and Naruto took the welcome break to finally look at his surroundings, now that the mist had mostly disappeared.

The green sparks of his Cure jutsu were glimmering everywhere as his Kage Bunshin tended to the injuries of Kakashi, Sasuke, Gon-san and the four co-workers they had found unconscious at the beginning of this mess. One of his copies walked even up to him and started taking senbon out of his body while constantly healing him with the Materia.

Sakura had appeared as well and she had immediately made her way to Sasuke, apparently to fuss over him. She looked perfectly fine. Tazuna was trailing behind a little more circumspectly, but he too seemed uninjured. Further down the bridge, Kakashi's dogs were standing in a line, all of them facing directly where the structure suddenly ended and the sea began. Only, they weren't really looking at the sea for there was something in between.

Or better someone.

"Oh-oh! You've got your ass handed to you, I see. How disappointing."

A short man was standing near the edge of the bridge, his elegant dark suit and glasses clashing badly with the large group of people behind his shoulder. Bandits, from the looks of things. They had gotten off a fairly large boat anchored between the structure and the nearby mainland and they seemed eager to fight now that the disappearing mist had revealed their presence.

"Can you even hear me," the short man continued with a malicious grin as he pointed his stick at them with his uninjured arm, "Zabuza?"

Naruto lowered his gaze and decided he couldn't. The Mist shinobi was definitely going to be out of it for a while as the hole in his stomach was slowly healed.

"Gatou…" he heard Haku murmur and he stood up.

"Out cold, eh?" Gatou said in glee. "That will make it even easier to kill you so I don't have to pay you! And now that you're all weakened, you all are gonna die too!"

Naruto scowled as the bandits cheered.

He saw Kakashi make a seal and was wondering what would happen when his dogs practically disappeared from sight as they ran at great speed towards the enemy. There was a flurry of movement in front of Gatou right before his body was torn to pieces, blood spraying on the first line of his surprised army. The eight dogs were back in front of their master before what was left of the short man could hit the ground.

Cries of shock and anger rose from the bandits but even Naruto couldn't contain a small gasp.

"Damn dogs!" one of them swore. "You killed our meal ticket!"

"You guys are dead!" someone else shouted.

Immediately, more threats started flying towards them, but when the first line made to move forward, what looked like a fishing harpoon plunged into the bridge with a loud clank. The bandits came to a halt at once as everyone looked at where the weapon had come from.

Behind Sakura and Tazuna, on the other side of the bridge, stood Inari, at the head of what must have been a hundred armed people. He had a miniature crossbow in his hands and a black pot on his head, and as he stepped away from his own army, Naruto noticed the two clones accompanying him, probably two of the four Kage Bunshin he had left with him and Tsunami at their house in the forest. One of them dispelled immediately, thus informing him of the failed kidnapping of Tazuna's daughter and Inari's attempt at mobilizing the whole Wave.

"If you come any further onto our island," the kid yelled at the bandits, "the citizens of this country will stop you with everything we've got!"

"Inari!" Naruto shouted, barking out a laugh.

"A hero shows up at the last second, right?" the boy replied, quoting him and grinning back.

A smart use of Kage and normal Bunshin later, Gatou's army was scampering back to the boat.

While Wave Country cheered for their freedom, Naruto found himself grinning brightly.

* * *

The water under Sasuke's feet felt surprising warm as chakra flowed through it. He managed to keep himself on top, a few feet away from the shore, for exactly three minutes and fifty seconds before sinking to his calves in that shallow portion of the bay.

The Uchiha cursed under his breath. Considering how quickly he had improved during the morning, he should have reached the five-minute mark already and yet… yet his annoyance was rising to always greater and greater levels and there was no hope to even get close to it in that condition. He was simply too little focused.

Or better yet, too much distracted.

He had trained alongside Sakura that morning and things had gone as smoothly as he had hoped, the kunoichi disturbing him only rarely and occasionally even with useful pieces of advice about the exercise. But it was her turn guarding the still recovering Zabuza and Haku that afternoon, back in Kakashi's impromptu ninja-jail, and that meant having a new training partner now.

He tried to ignore the Dobe's voice – no, make it plural, _voices_ – ringing in his ears with the insistency and intensity of a damn whining baby, but it was impossible. Not so near – and so _loud_ – anyway.

"What's taking him so long?" one of the Narutos huffed in what sounded like irritation.

To which another one replied, "He sure is taking his time, isn't he?"

"Yeah," a third blond agreed loudly. "Is he admiring the seascape or something?"

Sasuke bristled as he tried to return his feet to the surface of the water. He knew what those Dobes were doing – taking jabs at him and his failed attempts at the chakra exercise while pretending to be talking about the Naruto who had dived underwater – and he knew he shouldn't have risen to the bait, but he really couldn't help himself. He could practically hear the smirks in their voices.

"Is it gonna kill you three if you shut up one damn minute?" he growled, finally turning towards them. "Is silence enough of a weapon to dispel your useless one-hit asses?"

The nearest clone faked surprise at his remarks. "Oh, I'm sorry, are we disrupting your concentration?"

"Come on, Sasuke-kun!" continued the second with a fake cheer, "we know you can do it!"

"I mean…" said the third, jumping up and down on top of the water, "how hard can it be?"

Sasuke threw a barrage of shuriken at them but they dodged, giving up all pretences and sniggering openly. They knew he couldn't reach them so far into the sea, not before sinking underwater, anyway, and he doubted he could have taken them on while swimming even if they _were_ useless one-hit idiots.

"Damn it," he swore between gritted teeth as they tried to goad him to chase after them.

God, how he hated being showed up by Naruto… as soon as he mastered this fucking water-walking, he would shove it in his face and then up his ass. It only took that and then they would be on par, more or less. Yes, the Dobe had Materia and Shadow clones, but Sasuke had the Sharingan now and it had been clear how great it was in their battle against Haku the day before. Sure, it had been the blond to break the ice-dome, but who had actually caught the enemy?

Sasuke smirked slightly, turning away from the clowning Kage Bunshin. It was pretty strange to think about how… _competent_ Naruto had become. Strange but not completely unpleasant. Apart from the obvious, as in to say being more helpful in their duty, there were certain advantages in the Dobe being somewhat skilled. Training for example had become much more challenging and rewarding. Winning was nice, of course, but it had turned out that it was even nicer when it happened after a hard-fought struggle or even, in rare instances, a string of losses.

Who would have thought? He had never liked losing or even simply not being at the top, but he had discovered that competition wasn't such a bad thing.

"Still nothing, Teme?"

"Do you want some tips? We mastered it days ago, after all."

"Come on, we're in a generous mood. A simple 'please' will do."

He gritted his teeth again and ignored the clones, stepping up on top of the water once again. The best way to show them, he told himself, was to focus on the exercise and kick their smoky asses when he was done. He had to train now.

For the next couple of minutes, his hard work seemed to be perfectly recompensed by an effortless flow of chakra that kept him solidly above the surface. Then things started getting trickier as voices managed to make their way into his until then clear mind and his concentration started to waver.

His feet sank again when the clones' racket grew louder, but before he could start ranting at them, he realized that they were ignoring him completely now, in favour of the blond that had resurfaced fifty feet away.

"I've got it!" shouted the swimming Naruto, who Sasuke knew to be the original, with a hand raised above his head. "You'll never believe this!"

The Uchiha took advantage of the distraction and struck with some shuriken again, this time hitting the distracted clones and dispelling them before they even noticed they were being attacked.

The blond floating offshore frowned at him from the distance.

"That wasn't very nice!" he shouted, and as he got near, Sasuke could see the grin on his face. "Only because you can't do something as easy as water-walking it doesn't mean-"

But he had to dive out of a shuriken's way before he could finish the sentence. When he finally reached the shore, he shook water off his body and hair much like a dog would do and dropped his air-mask and a small, round stone to the dry ground.

Here was the new Kyuubi dropping, the Uchiha thought. Naruto had whined non-stop about not having the chance to take it in the past day. At least now he would stop pestering them all.

"Woof, cold," the blond said, getting out of the water and immediately going for the clothes discarded a few feet away. "Kakashi's jutsu helped a little but this water is freezing!"

"It snowed yesterday, remember?" Sasuke said. It had, even if only for a little while, but the temperature had fallen a lot before rising a bit again that morning.

"Right," the blond said with a small smile. He dried up as best he could before putting his orange jumpsuit on. "So…" he said next. "Wanna see what this does?"

Sasuke glanced down at the wet Materia in the boy's hand. He was actually very curious to know what Naruto's new rock would be. Not that he would tell him that. Ever. He shrugged his shoulders and surreptitiously waited for his teammate to demonstrate.

"Colour?" he asked nonchalantly.

The Dobe grinned, looking extremely excited.

"Red."

Sasuke couldn't quite hide his interest this time.

"That's a first," he said quietly.

"Yep," the blond said flippantly. "And the Kyuubi doesn't have the slightest clue about what it could mean."

He checked around, presumably for a suitable target, before deciding. He turned towards the sea and raised his hand. Then hesitated.

"Uhm… you might want to step out. Just in case."

The Uchiha agreed. He had no intention of acting as guinea-pig for the Dobe's new, unknown weapon. He made sure he was a few feet away from the water before gesturing at his teammate to proceed.

Naruto raised the Materia and… waited. He frowned a little in evident confusion before visibly concentrating harder, fingers tightening around the sphere and lower lip worked between his teeth.

Sasuke was wondering whether it would do anything at all when the usual circle of light flashed all around the blond, only this time with strange, colourful orbs appearing in the green glow. An unknown symbol, perhaps the character of a foreign language, showed inside every floating sphere until they all converged on Naruto and seemed to almost disappear inside of him.

Big droplets of water rose from the sea at that point, all shooting quickly towards a precise point in front of the blond like metal balls attracted by a powerful magnet. They coalesced together into a larger conglomerate which seemed to shatter like glass a minute later, once it had reached gigantic proportions. Huge spheres and blocks of water flew everywhere then, leaving behind something Sasuke's eyes had difficulty to believe real.

There was what looked like a sea serpent floating in the air now, bright orange eyes staring down at them. He was probably fifty feet long, but it was hard to guess exactly, considering he was coiled on himself on numerous points. His wet green scales were glimmering under the afternoon sun, while clear white fins trembled slightly as if tensed and ready to strike. Two thick whiskers easily as long as Kakashi swayed lazily through the air while the beast observed them.

Sasuke's brain barely registered that the sea had somehow reached him in what he had previously thought of as a safe position. Water was flowing around his calf, unpleasantly cold now that his chakra wasn't passing through it, but he paid it no mind with such an incredible creature staring him down.

The sea serpent hissed menacingly, sounding very irritated and showing a respectable amount of fangs.

"Naruto," the Uchiha called in a small voice, trying not to move despite his instincts telling him to run as fast as he could. "Send it away."

But the Dobe didn't seem worried at all.

"Wow," he said in fascination. "This is so cool!"

Kakashi suddenly materialized beside the blond, earning himself a hiss from the beast. He smiled at it as if that hadn't even happened.

"Well, well. What do we have here?" His nonchalant voice sounded genuine too. "I presume this is your new Materia, eh Naruto?"

"Kakashi, Teme," the orange-clad genin said with an introductory tone, "this is Leviathan, the Sea God."

"God?" Kakashi repeated interestedly.

"That's his title, according to the Kyuubi," the blond explained. "He's a demon in reality."

"Ah." The jounin nodded in comprehension. "A friend of the Fox, then?"

Naruto snorted. "Hardly. He comes from the world the Kyuubi and the other tailed-beasts have abandoned thousands of years ago. He's of a different kind, though. This Materia is apparently meant to summon him but it takes a whole lot of chakra to do it. Like, four times the second level of Fire even!"

"Are you controlling him?" Sasuke wanted to know, activating his Sharingan and giving the sea serpent a once over. He didn't pick up anything more about the creature, unfortunately.

"Nope. The Fox says he's just waiting for me to tell him what to attack."

And with that little titbit of information, Leviathan's next hiss honestly sounded impatient to the Uchiha's ears.

"Let's see what he can do, then," Kakashi said, quickly forming seals.

Sasuke's eyes widened in excitement as he felt his Sharingan copy the hand movements precisely and his mind filing away the information for later use. He was curious about what jutsu he had just learned when the familiar water dragon of the first fight against Zabuza rose from the sea opposite the big serpent.

"Go!" Naruto shouted then, pointing at the jounin's creation, before adding as an afterthought, "please?"

Leviathan glanced once at him and seemed to scoff haughtily. Then he reared his huge head in the air before lowering it down quickly and hissing angrily at Kakashi's jutsu who was rushing towards him in the meantime.

The water dragon had no chance.

As a gigantic wave rose from behind the Sea God and slammed against the dragon like a frigging tsunami, Sasuke could only open his mouth in shock. The Suiton creation was washed away like a little worm as the huge wall of water rolled powerfully onward. They could still see it going minutes later, long after Leviathan had turned to Naruto, hissed and disappeared like a ghost. The tsunami crashed against the shore miles away from them and continued for who knew how further along the land.

There was complete silence on their shore now. The water had receded to its usual level and Sasuke's feet were on dry ground once again. A scared voice reached them from the bridge above, where all the sound of work had seemingly stopped.

"What the hell was that?" Tazuna shrilled.

Sasuke just turned towards Naruto, who was grinning maniacally from ear to ear.

Fuck, he thought. The Dobe took a swim and came back with a Sea God.

He needed to go back to train his ass off if he didn't want to be left behind.

* * *

Konohagakure's northern gate closed with a loud bang as the umpteenth caravan of merchants passed through to get inside the Village. It was a hot morning of late June and traders and dealers were sweating profusely as they helped push forward their carts of merchandise. The road to the marketplace in the commercial district was long, but most of them were used to it, and even though they would have preferred a more temperate day, they knew that complaining wouldn't have been of any help.

Four ninjas standing at the gate checked every permission with serious faces while one Uzumaki Naruto lazed around nearby, looking idly at some of the products in the caravan. Not seeing anything of interest to him, the blond sauntered back to his fellow shinobi and waited for the last merchant to disappear down the road. Then he turned around quickly and marvelled at the suddenly smiling faces of his little audience.

"So?" tokubetsu jounin Aoba asked excitedly, urging him to continue the story interrupted at the arrival of the caravan. "What happened when you returned his book, then?"

Naruto grinned brightly. "He petted it!"

"No!" chuunin Shinobu exclaimed in disbelief.

"I swear! He petted it and he looked it over as if to check for injuries or something! I think he would have kissed it too if we hadn't been there!"

"Damn," Aoba said with a large grin. "That man really loves his porn."

Shinobu chuckled while Hayate's amusement was covered by a series of coughs. Genma smirked at the genin, the ever-present senbon sticking between his teeth.

"Did it hurt a lot when he cut off your balls, then?"

"Ah-ah," the blond deadpanned. "He only _threatened_ to do that…" and here his smile turned a bit shaky, "among other things."

"Stealing Kakashi's book..." The jounin shook his head. "Only you could be that crazy, Naruto."

"Still, I would have liked to see that," Shinobu said.

"Or the battle against Momochi Zabuza," Hayate added, brushing his hand against the sword strapped on his back. "I always wanted to fight him."

"Yeah, he's pretty strong," Naruto agreed, but his expression turned sour quickly. "He was, at least."

"What's wrong?" Aoba asked, wondering about the sudden darkening of the genin's mood. He had helped in defeating and capturing a dangerous missing-nin. Why wasn't he happy?

"Naruto, here, is sad because we've handed Zabuza and his partner to Kirigakure," Hayate explained with a small sympathetic smile directed at the blond. "And because they're probably going to execute them."

Shinobu looked around uncertainly. "And that's bad?"

The genin glared at him before deflating. "Haku is a nice guy, and despite what the Teme says, I practically captured him single-handedly. I don't know how I feel about sending someone to die."

"You didn't send anyone to die," Hayate disagreed in a reprimanding tone. "You've done everything you could to keep him alive and have him face justice. It's not your fault if his past crimes will lead him to his death."

"Actions and consequences, Naruto," Aoba said with a sad smile. "Always remember that."

"And if you really regret arresting those two," Genma said with a smirk, "you could always give me your part of the reward. I need a new couch and I can't buy it if I use all my pay check on food and booze."

"No way!" the blond refused immediately. "Catch your own missing-nin if you are so strapped for money!"

He didn't say it out loud but he had already spent most of the reward, anyway. He hadn't wasted a day upon getting back in Konoha to go visit Tenten in her secret forge and commission her for some weapon-refills and most importantly two new Materia leg-holsters.

The eight slots of his armbands, in fact, weren't enough anymore. The Leviathan summon had been his tenth Materia, and since on the return trip he had found two more, he had reached a total of twelve spheres, thus having to carry four of them in his pockets. Well, five really, considering he always left a space open for when he created clones and they had to equip the Cover Materia quickly. But now that he had eight more slots strapped around his calves and shins, he had no such problems anymore.

"Why bother risking my life chasing dangerous ninja when there are so many easier ways to get richer?" Genma retorted. "Like coaxing stupid genin in giving me their rewards or even offering for the role of proctor or examiner in the chuunin exam."

"What?" Naruto blurted out. "Chuunin exam? When is that?"

"Didn't Kakashi tell you?" Aoba said with a raised eyebrow. "I would have thought he'd have at least asked you if you wanted to participate."

"Oops," Genma said, once again with a grin on his face. "I bet he didn't want you to pester him about it. Too late now!"

Sure enough, Naruto's face was set in a determined expression that didn't promise anything good for the Copy Ninja.

"So," the blond started interestedly, "you're going to be an examiner, right?"

"Let's say we all are giving a hand with the exam, one way or another," Shinobu admitted.

"Why do you think four of us are guarding the gates instead of the usual two?"

The genin blinked owlishly at Genma.

"I have no idea," he said honestly.

"We're waiting for the foreign teams to arrive," Hayate explained. "They're late, in fact."

Sure enough, after a few minutes of unsuccessful prying about the details of the exam, Naruto had to step aside as the northern gate of Konoha was opened to let in the representative teams from Sunagakure.

About fifty people came in, all wearing the strange head-protector of the Village Hidden in the Sand. After having their papers checked by the four Leaf ninja on guard, they hung around the open area in front of the gate as they waited for everyone else to pass through.

Naruto took the opportunity to scan them with his Sense Materia, going quickly over the usually strong jounin sensei and focusing more on the actual chuunin-hopefuls. There were a few decent ones but nothing too impressing, although the blond made sure to keep in mind that the graphs he was seeing hardly represented the whole truth. Still, his opinion on his Sense Materia had drastically improved since its first days, as it had quickly showed a few side-effects of sorts that were all kinds of useful to him.

The first one appeared during the return trip from Wave, when he had stumbled upon a blue stone that, despite his various tests, didn't seem to be doing anything at all. Without the little Fire, Ice or Lightning symbol appearing thanks to the Sense Materia in his Vitality and Spirit bars, he didn't know when or even _if_ he would have ever realized that it simply added a defensive elemental bonus relative to the green sphere he paired it with. He had called it Elemental Materia – uninspiredly, according to the Kyuubi – and had put it in his pocket together with the other blue one he had found on his way back to Konoha, a second All Materia.

The other side effect of Sense had proven even more useful as it had led to the discovery that some of his spheres, when equipped, seemed to alter his characteristics some. Nothing extraordinary, really… a small boost here, a little handicap there… depending on what stone he put in his slots and what he pulled out, he found himself faster or stronger or more resistant. He was still working out the details on that, but he had a pretty good estimation of how his Materia seemed to affect him, and he had already started thinking about ways to exploit that.

Naruto smiled happily in thinking about how his chakra control improved whenever he kept equipped both the Leviathan and all his green Materia. Again, taken one by one, each boost wasn't really much, but all together they were a very nice enhancement for his weakest – by far – stat, enough so that he didn't mind the slight loss in strength or energy which was definitely more bearable, all things considered.

He was also very happy because, after his Fire Materia, also his Lightning, Cover and All spheres had reached the second level. Now his Bolt was more powerful, his clones had a higher chance of popping up to protect him and he could use the multiple-targeting effect of his blue stone up to two times in a row.

Things were going great.

He had tried a few different combinations before deciding on his current one. He had filled four of the eight slots in his leg-holsters with the Leviathan, Steal, Enemy Skills and Sense Materia, and left the other four empty. In his easier to access armbands, instead, he had put all his green and his blue support Materia so that, if he needed to change pairings, he could do so quickly. At the moment, he had his bulging, ready for the upgrade Ice Materia paired up with the new All, while the second level one was paired up with his second level Lightning. Then, on the other arm, he had equipped the second level Fire with his fresh Elemental Materia and Restore alone next to the free slot he always left open for Cover.

He was pretty satisfied with what he considered a well-thought combination and he couldn't help but grin a little as his left hand brushed lightly against the purple sphere in his pocket.

He was still looking around at the Sand shinobi waiting in front of the gate when he decided to scan an isolated team to his right. What he saw made his eyes widen in shock.

"Holy-" he said loudly before he could stop himself and the three genin he was staring at turned towards him.

Naruto gave the girl and the boy with face-paint a quick glance before levelling his eyes back to the shortest of the group. The kid was probably a couple of inches taller than him, had brick-red hair spiking up from his head and a very pale skin only marred by the red kanji for love on his forehead. He carried a large gourd on his back and he too was looking at him with a fixed stare, his green eyes encircled by very dark marks.

Around him, at least in Naruto's mind, eight colourful bars had unfolded horizontally as effect of the Sense Materia. The blond wouldn't have given them a second thought if not for the Chakra graph.

It was longer than his.

'_Well, well, well, if it isn't little Shukaku-kun,_' the Kyuubi suddenly said, a smirk in his voice. '_I'd recognize that chakra anywhere._'

'_Who is he?_' Naruto asked interestedly, still locked in a staring contest with the Suna shinobi. His teammates seemed to be trying to divert his attention, albeit half-heartedly.

'_The boy? A jinchuriki, I'd imagine. The one inside him is the one-tailed beast._'

'_Really?_' the blond said excitedly. '_A jinchuuriki?_'

'_What?_' The bijuu's voice was derisive. '_You thought you were the only one?_'

'_No, no. But I… uh, I didn't expect to meet… someone like me,_' he admitted. '_I never really thought about it_.'

'_I bet he didn't either, judging by how he's checking you out,_' the Kyuubi said.

'_Do you think he knows I'm a jinchuuriki too?_'

The Fox snorted. '_If Shukaku hasn't grown even weaker since the last time I saw him, he should have easily sensed the Materia on your body, if not my presence inside of you._'

'_So, he's weaker than you?_' the genin wanted to know and his inner voice scoffed.

'_By far._'

'_He's got more chakra, though_," Naruto pointed out, once again marvelling at the length of the boy's Chakra bar.

'_No, he doesn't!_' the bijuu protested immediately. '_What you're seeing is the energy of both him and his host combined. When you use the Sense Materia on yourself, instead, you only see yours._'

'_Why is that?_'

'_Probably because of something different in our imprisoning seals, who knows?_' the Kyuubi said dismissively. '_Suffice it to say I've got loads more chakra than him. Eight tails more, to be exact._'

'_Alright._' The blond took a deep breath and let it out quickly. '_I'm going to talk to him._'

Before his tenant could say anything on his decision, Naruto walked purposefully up to the red-haired boy and smiled nervously. His two teammates seemed to tense slightly, as if ready to fight or flee, but the Leaf genin dismissed the reaction after a second and spoke up.

"Hi," he started, immediately realizing he didn't know exactly what to say. He went for his classic introduction after an instant of hesitation. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, the future Hokage of Konoha! Uhm, welcome to the Village."

He received a few wary looks until the girl eventually nodded her head sharply. She was blond and very pretty, with a huge folded fan attached to her back.

"I'm Temari," she said quietly. "Are you in the exam too?"

Naruto pouted. Why hadn't Kakashi told them anything about this? He would get back at him for that! Forget returning the book… he'd take it and he'd destroy it this time, if the lazy bastard didn't enter him in this exam!

"Yes," he said confidently a second later.

The tall boy next to her seemed to appraise him with a different gaze at the declaration. It seemed that the recurring theme of the three Suna genin was having something strapped on their back, because beside the red-head's gourd and Temari's fan, this guy also had… uh, the blond didn't know what it was, something almost completely wrapped up with bandages.

He returned his stare somewhat challengingly, looking at his black outfit and face-paint in interest. The boy held his gaze for an instant before huffing and turning away.

"I guess we'll see you there, then" he said dismissingly, but he and Temari had only walked away a few feet before realizing their third teammate hadn't moved. They stopped in uncertainty and the girl made to talk before reconsidering.

It hadn't passed unnoticed to Naruto that his fellow jinchuuriki hadn't said anything during the brief conversation, nor changed expression from the emotionless mask he had worn since he had first seen him, for that matter. When he did finally talk, the blond hadn't exactly expected those words.

"Mother says you're like me," the Sand shinobi said much to his team's surprise.

'_Mother!_' The Kyuubi snorted amusedly. '_Oh, Shukaku, you devious little bastard!_'

Naruto looked a bit sceptic at that.

"You _do_ know that what you're calling 'mother' is a chakra monster, right?"

For the first time since he had first seen him, the boy's emotionless face changed into a confused, slightly angry expression.

"What?"

Naruto's eyes narrowed a little as he wondered if his fellow jinchuuriki really didn't know he was one. Was he by chance breaking Suna's counterpart to Konoha's law on the Kyuubi? Glancing around at the boy's teammates, he only saw two fearful faces and no one trying to stop him, so he decided to keep it up.

"A chakra monster," he repeated and went on when the red-haired boy continued to look uncomprehending. "A giant demon. A tailed beast. A-"

"She's not!" the Sand ninja finally snapped back, shaking off his confusion.

"Uhm… I'm pretty sure she is," the blond reiterated.

"She's not!"

"She is!"

"She's not!"

"She-Hey!"

Naruto hastily jumped backwards as what looked like a serpent of sand started from his fellow jinchuuriki's feet and tried to grab him. It missed on the first strike but followed in pursuit.

"Gaara!" someone nearby shouted, right as Genma and Hayate appeared beside him.

The boy, Gaara apparently, brought a hand up to his temple as if nursing a sudden head-ache. He glanced briefly at an advancing Suna jounin and the sand hesitated before receding completely. Naruto followed it with his gaze as it slithered up to the gourd on the red-head's back. And now that he thought about it, the thing looked like it was actually made of it.

"You alright, Naruto?" Hayate asked him.

He could feel the presence of Aoba somewhere behind his right shoulder.

"I'm fine," he said quietly, a scowl directed at his attacker.

Gaara's face had once again become the emotionless mask of before, but he was looking right back at him. If the blond hadn't been so focused on their resumed staring contest, he would have probably noticed the one going on between his fellow Leaf shinobi and the Sand jounin who had stepped in after the attack.

"Come on," the man said eventually to the Suna jinchuuriki. "Let's get going."

He turned briskly on his heel, mirrored at once by Gaara's two teammates, while the red-head stood still for another long second. Then he too gave them his back and followed the others.

Genma immediately rounded on Naruto.

"What was all that about?"

The blond didn't really know what to say, and if he had known, he probably wouldn't have wanted to say it, anyway. The weird confrontation had left a sour taste on his tongue that he had yet to figure out.

"Nothing," was his sullen answer as he quickly walked up to the gate, once again clear of foreign shinobi. The Suna ninja had all passed through and only Shinobu remained standing at the big entrance.

"It didn't look like nothing to me," Aoba said in a half-hearted attempt at humour.

But Naruto wasn't even listening, his head turned towards the Sand army walking away, eyes scanning the crowd in search of a red-head kid.

* * *

Author's notes – So, finally a Summon Materia. They will be explained a bit in later chapters. Bye.

Uncle Stojil


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

* * *

Team 7 arrived in front of room 301 at three thirty in the afternoon. There were already lots of chuunin-hopefuls standing around, all of them watching the commotion at the door. Naruto turned towards that as well.

"Hah! You plan to take the exam with that?" an older Leaf ninja with band-aids on his face was saying mockingly to another one on the ground. "You should quit now, little kid!"

The other shinobi standing beside the door laughed down at the fallen boy who was wiping a trickle of blood from where he had been hit.

"Please, let us through," a voice begged as a familiar girl stepped up to the ninja blocking the entrance. The moment Naruto realized it was Tenten, she was hit by a very fast punch to the face and stumbled backwards.

"Hey!"

The blond shouldered his way through the crowd watching the scene and crouched beside his friend.

"Tenten, you okay?"

She looked up at him in surprise but nodded with a smile, a slight bruise already forming on her left cheek. He stared at it a little perplexed from such close distance. That didn't look like a normal bruise at all. Tenten seemed to notice his puzzlement and gave him a super quick wink.

"Oh," he said quietly. So this wasn't real?

He turned to the other boy on the ground and realized that the blood on his chin didn't seem quite right either. He eventually looked up at the two shinobi standing in front of the door, as the one who had not-quite-hurt Tenten spoke up again.

"This is a kindness we're doing to you," he said with a sneer. "The chuunin exam isn't easy. Even we failed it three times straight."

As he launched into a long explanation of the dangers of the exam, Naruto took a moment to scan him and his friend with his Sense Materia. He wasn't all that surprised that the two ninja were impressive compared to all the other genin he had seen, and that included Sasuke and Sakura as well. If it wasn't for his Chakra bar, they would have him beaten in every stat too. But what was happening? Were they part of the act too, or did they not know what was happening either? He tried to pay closer attention to his surroundings and he finally picked up the other strange things in his immediacies.

"We're just thinning out those who will fail anyway," the ninja was saying in the meantime. "What's wrong with that?"

Naruto scowled. There was an area genjutsu affecting everyone around, and after he concentrated on the source, he was able to tell what it was meant to be. He straightened up to advance towards the door but Sasuke beat him to it.

"I agree with that, but you'll let me pass through. And also remove this genjutsu." He smirked. "I'm going to the third floor."

"So you noticed," the ninja in front of the door said.

"Of course we noticed!" Naruto stepped in heatedly and Sakura nodded her head as well.

"We're on the second floor," she declared much to the shock of the crowd behind them.

The shinobi who had attacked Tenten chucked amusedly.

"Not bad," he complimented them as the genjutsu was dropped. "But all you did was see through it!"

He moved to attack and Sasuke did the same but both their kicks were blocked by the boy who had been on the ground next to Tenten until a moment before. He held their legs for a second before releasing them and joining the girl and another genin with Hyuuga eyes. Naruto looked at them for a moment before scowling at Sasuke.

"You always have to hog the spotlight," he mumbled irritably.

The Uchiha finally looked at him after having frowned at Tenten's teammate himself.

"Everyone must know not to mess with me," he said smugly.

"I'll mess with you," the blond shot back and it seemed like his challenge was going to be accepted when Sakura interrupted them.

"Come on, guys!" she called. "They're letting us through!"

That was distracting enough that they both dropped their glares and followed the pink-haired girl. In the corridor beyond, Sakura waited for them together with Tenten's team.

"Hey, Tenten," Naruto called immediately, noticing how her bruise had disappeared entirely. "What happened back then? Was it staged?"

The others all gave him a surprised look while the secret blacksmith grinned.

"We had planned not to draw bad kinds of attention to ourselves," she explained, "so we tried to look like easy preys… at first."

She shot a half-disapproving and half-amused look to the boy to her left.

Naruto regarded the guy who had stopped Sasuke's kick with interested eyes. His look was ridiculous but he knew better than to judge on that. There was probably a pretty strong ninja beneath the bowl-like haircut, the caterpillar eyebrows and the spandex jumpsuit.

"Pretending to be weak?" the blond eventually said with a frown. "I don't like that! I don't like that at all! Everyone must know I'm not to be messed with!"

Although he had meant that, he enjoyed the annoyed look on Sasuke's face nonetheless.

"Yeah, I had figured that much," Tenten teased him. "I'm pretty surprised you didn't just electrocute that guy out there!"

"If he had hurt you for real, you can bet your ass I would have!" he said seriously and the girl let out a cute giggle.

"Oh, guys!" she said then, turning to her teammates as if she had suddenly remembered they were there. "This is Uzumaki Naruto. Naruto, these are Rock Lee and Hyuuga Neji."

"Ah and…uh," the blond started a bit lamely, "and these are Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke."

There were nods and greetings all around until Lee's impromptu confession of love was heartlessly thwarted by Sakura. That was followed by a bit of awkwardness, which the blond didn't exactly make better by laughing at the boy.

"Uhm, I was very excited when I heard you were going to be in the exam," Tenten said, trying to restart a normal conversation. "Did you know that this is the first time in five years that rookies have been entered in it?"

"That's because we're awesome!"

"You're not the only ones, though," the girl continued. "Six more rookies from Konoha are participating. You probably know them since they must have graduated with you from the Academy."

"Do you know their names?" Naruto asked, wondering who they could be.

"Uh-uh." The secret blacksmith shook her head. "We only knew that there were three rookie teams and that one of them was Kakashi's. And, of course, I knew you were his student so…"

"How do you know so many things about the exam?" Sakura asked in interest. "Our sensei didn't tell us anything. If it hadn't been for Naruto finding it out elsewhere, we would have probably heard about it yesterday if not today, even."

"We caught some rumours," Lee explained with a glint in his eyes. "If you hang around the right places, you pick up all kinds of useful information. Tell you what? I'll take you to a very nice ninja bar after we're finished!"

Sakura raised her eyebrows at the extremely bold and apparently relentless boy. "No way."

Tenten's teammate dropped his head in disappointment and Naruto couldn't help but laugh again. He put both hands on his mouth when Lee started looking angry at him but snorting sounds were difficult to block in.

"I'm sorry," the blond eventually said, raising his arms in a placating gesture. He turned to Sasuke. "Does it look like this when I do it?"

The Uchiha thought about it for a second before shrugging. "Every bit as pathetic."

Naruto nodded, still fighting back a grin. "Right."

Seeing as the other team was looking at them strangely, Sakura decided to explain.

"Naruto's asked me out on dates since we were at the Academy."

"And you've never…" Tenten began, letting the incomplete sentence float there.

"Of course not!"

Everyone noticed Sakura's embarrassed look in Sasuke's direction – which he ignored – and Naruto's immediate worse mood.

"Teme," he growled.

"Dobe," the Uchiha returned automatically.

"Why couldn't you just stay home today?" the blond grumbled. "This exam would be so much better without you."

"I should be the one to say that," the other retorted snidely. "You've still got time to run home and save yourself the embarrassment."

Naruto was about to reply, either with just his mouth or also with his fists was yet unclear, when Tenten interrupted them in confusion.

"You do realize that you can only participate in the exam as a team, right?" she asked, shifting his eyes from them to Sakura.

"What?"

"You can only take part if in a group of three," the secret blacksmith said slowly, staring at them as if waiting to see understanding in their faces. She didn't. "Your sensei really didn't tell you anything, did he?"

Team 7 shared a stunned look, a blink and finally a single comment.

"Oh."

Kakashi _had_ told them it would have been '_easier to fail_' without all three of them participating. Another one of his cryptic sentences had been uncovered. The bastard.

"Individual choice, my ass," Naruto said. "Why did he lie to us?"

Sasuke seemed to think about it for a moment. "It must be his usual crap about being a team and acting like one."

"Oh, my god!" Sakura huffed exasperated. "He's obsessed!"

"I bet he's prepared a speech for it, in the off-chance that one or two of us get rejected because not everyone has come," Naruto said. He lowered the left side of his head-protector to cover one eye and pointed his index at Sasuke in exultance. "Ah-ah! Told ya! You can only take steps forward as a team, suckers!" He straightened the hitai-ite back to its usual position and shrugged. "Or something like that."

Sakura sniggered and even Sasuke grinned slightly. They turned back to Tenten and her teammates who were looking at them somewhat warily.

"Let's get going," Neji said with finality after a long second of silence, and he started walking down the hallway.

Team 7 looked at each other, nodded and followed after him.

They soon reached the third floor, room 301, and the two ninja standing in front of the door.

"So, everyone's here, huh?" Kakashi commented. "Now we can properly take the exam."

Sakura rolled her eyes at the man.

"Whatever do you mean, Sensei?"

The jounin looked surprised for a moment, then his eye closed to form his usual smiling expression.

"Neji! Tenten! Lee!"

The booming voice echoed painfully against the walls of the corridor and Naruto couldn't help but wince as he turned to the other ninja present. He was… Lee's dad? He sure seemed like it, considering his looks – same ridiculous hair-cut, spandex jumpsuit and even thicker highbrows – but the three genin were calling him Gai-sensei.

"I'm so proud of you I feel like crying!" the jounin continued and tears were actually streaming down his face. "I know you will face this exam with the strength and courage I've always seen in every one of you!"

And then he went on and on about random things like will of fire and power of youth. It was hard to not stare at him but Kakashi seemed to be ignoring the other's antics completely.

"Stick together and you'll be fine," he said simply, his nonchalance on the opposite spectrum compared to Gai's enthusiasm. "Now go."

But the weird ninja had directed his attention to them by that point. He moved faster than the eye could see and practically materialized between them and the door, sporting a smile that resulted more than a little creepy for how wide it was.

"Ah, so you are my eternal rival's pupils! Kakashi must have taught you well if you're participating as rookies." He put one hand on Sakura's shoulder and one on Sasuke's, but his gaze enclosed Naruto as well. "I wish you too the best for the exam."

"You're Sensei's rival?" the blond repeated, glancing at the silver-haired jounin and noticing his sigh. He shifted his eyes back to Gai and examined him with his Sense Materia. He gulped loudly at the results.

"Eh-eh… fifty wins, forty-nine losses," he stated confidently and his grin grew even brighter. "I'm ahead of him."

Kakashi rolled his eyes but didn't actually deny that. "Ignore him, kids. Off you go."

Team 7 didn't need to be told twice, gladly making a run for it. They heard Gai's voice boom again throughout the corridor until the door slammed shut behind them, leaving them standing inside room 301, under the menacing look of dozens of ninja.

"Wow…" Naruto said, looking at the multitude of shinobi. "So many…"

The blond couldn't help but grin in anticipation as he scanned the competition.

* * *

The chuunin exam began with a written test. Most genin looked lost in thought already, concentrating on the questions and occasionally scribbling something down on their sheets, while others appeared either desperate or confident. All around them, chuunin proctors were observing the proceeding intently, notepad in hand, and at the teacher's desk, in front of the blackboard with the rules, the scarred examiner was doing the same. The classroom was completely quiet for anyone but Naruto, because inside his head a loud argument was taking place.

'_I don't believe it._'

'_You better start to_.'

'_I can't fucking believe it!_'

'_Everyone's_ _been telling you this for _months! _Really, how can you not understand it?_'

The blond shook his head as he thought back at what the Kyuubi had just told him. It made sense… dammit!

'_They want us to cheat,_' the genin repeated with his inner, now incredulous voice.

'_And not get caught at it,_' the Demon reminded him.

Naruto shook his head again with a frown. He let his eyes roam over his test and couldn't help but groan at the incomprehensible questions.

"Right," he whispered in resignation a moment later. He hated doing this but he didn't want to fail the test… he didn't want to fail his team, especially.

'_Right,_' he said for the benefit of his tenant. He picked up the pencil. '_Let's begin with the first one, then. Start dictating_.'

There was a moment of silence and then the Kyuubi spoke up.

'_Naruto, I don't know the answers to most of these questions._'

The blond too took a moment before replying. '_You're joking, right?_'

'_No._'

'_But-but-but you told me you-_'

'_I told you that I paid attention at the Academy and that I remember everything you read,_' the Demon finished for him. '_But that's the thing – you never read much and as for the Academy, you probably missed as much lessons as you attended to. These questions are hard, they seem like advanced stuff. I can't help you here._'

Naruto tried not to let the shock appear on his face as he mulled the words over in his head.

'_How am I going to even cheat, then? How can I get my hands on these answers if- Oh…_'

_Of course_.

He stopped talking when the idea struck him like a slap on the face. The Kyuubi just snorted, having already arrived to the same conclusion, probably. They discussed it a little, Naruto surreptitiously looking around the room at the chuunin proctors watching them like hawks. When he agreed with his bijuu that their plan wasn't going to get any better if he just started over-thinking it, he settled back on his chair and waited. There wasn't much he could do for the moment, so he just busied himself observing the other participants, his gaze stopping more often than not on two genin in particular.

The first one was Gaara, the Sand ninja he had met a few days earlier at the gates. The red-head looked about as busy as him – as in to say at all – but much more calm and collected. Naruto frowned a little when the jinchuuriki looked at him, his eyes as empty and unreadable as his face. The blonde glared back almost challengingly before turning around, annoyed.

He had eventually told his team about their confrontation, and although Sasuke had looked unhealthily interested in how strong the Suna-nin actually was, the blond thought that his warning had been received. Kakashi agreeing with him also helped getting the point across. The red-head kid was dangerous.

The second genin Naruto was consistently looking at was Kabuto, the grey-haired Konoha shinobi who had introduced himself to their little group of rookies and Tenten's team at the entrance to room 301. He had showed them his Nin-info cards about some of the competition and had also told them that would be the seventh time he tried to become chuunin. Considering how he had gotten his ass handed to him by a weird-looking Sound genin right before the beginning of the exam, Naruto would have had no problem in believing it… if it hadn't been for his Sense Materia.

According to the yellow sphere, in fact, Kabuto was by far the strongest ninja in the room, and that didn't just include the chuunin-hopefuls taking the exam, but also the examiners. Even the scarred one who was presumably in charge of things was visibly weaker than him as far as his Materia could tell. Sure, Naruto hadn't actually had the chance to scan every last one of the participants, but he highly doubted another genin would even come _close_ to the grey-haired ninja. The guy was about as strong as Kakashi… Even though he knew not to rely on the sphere's power to gauge an opponent's skill, the blond couldn't help but swallow uneasily as his eyes rested an instant on the scribbling shinobi. He had acted so weak but… something didn't add up.

He continued thinking about it for a while, the topic effectively keeping his mind away from the task ahead. Thanks to that, when the time finally came, he wasn't nearly as nervous as he could have been. He chanced one look at his oblivious target, scribbled down something on his test sheet and then hid it quickly up his sleeve, folding it enough to fit in loosely. He stood up and looked at the chuunin proctors lined against the wall.

"Uhm… I need to go to the bathroom," he said, and his plan was finally set in motion.

* * *

When Haruno Sakura regained possess of her body, she immediately turned her head to the left and tried to glare a hole into Yamanaka Ino's head. The blonde had just had the gall to use her mind-control jutsu on her, in order to take a look at her test, no doubt. The pink-haired girl scowled even harder when Ino-pig just smiled smugly, and she made the promise to herself to never let the Yamanaka do it again.

No matter, though, she told herself, reigning on her temper. She had completed the test, exception made for the mysterious tenth question, and she was sure her score would be very good. She was positive Sasuke would do well too, either by himself or by cheating, but she wasn't so sure about Naruto. She chanced a look at him, down a couple of rows, only to find his seat vacant.

Her heart skipped a beat for a moment. Had he lose all his points? Had they thrown him out while Ino was controlling her? But no, then she would have been disqualified too, together with Sasuke. Then what-

And then she saw him, returning to the room from a side door, and she let out a sigh of relief. He was handcuffed and escorted by an examiner like the other guys she had seen going to the bathroom. He was still okay, then. She watched as he got his hands free and started walking back to his seat, passing between rows of chuunin still intent on their test. Her eyes met his for a moment when he passed by, and she could have sworn there was something mischievous glinting in his blue gaze. He eventually reached his seat and plopped down with a heavy grunt.

Sakura frowned slightly as she noticed how he kept on tossing secretive glances at her. On an intuition, she looked down at her test and-

"You little-"

On her desk, slightly crumpled in the middle, now rested a clean test sheet, almost as blank as a new one if not for the small note scribbled down on the top right corner. It read 'Sorry Sakura!' in what she could easily recognize as Naruto's horrible handwriting. She looked it over in shock for a moment before glaring at her teammate, finding his guilty and chagrined smile somewhat appeasing. She forced herself to calm down, and after a quick look at the examiners and one last heavy sigh, she just picked up the pencil again and started writing.

Re-answering the test was a chore, but also a much quicker affair, she realized when she finally dropped her pencil only ten minutes later. She rubbed her sore wrist slightly as she looked down at her teammates. Sasuke had already taken his usual position, shoulders slightly hunched and hands steepled in front of his mouth. He met her eyes with a passing glance and gave her such a quick nod with his head she would have missed it if she had blinked. Naruto was done too – _obviously_, she thought bitterly, but a small part of her couldn't help but be amused at the blond. Using his Steal Materia to get himself a good test… that was smart, if she could say so. She allowed herself to take some pride in the fact he had decided to steal _her_ test, knowing that she would have answered – and answered_ correctly_ – all the questions, but she knew that her spot by the end of the row had played a part in it as well. But all that mattered were the results and she knew they were going to be good.

Team 7 would ace this test.

When Naruto eventually looked up at her, this time she answered his sheepish smile with one of her own.

"Okay," Morino Ibiki said suddenly a few minutes later. His voice cut through the silent room like a hot knife through butter. "We will now start the tenth question."

Sakura gulped quietly and readied herself, and she could see many others doing the same.

"Before we get to it, though," the examiner continued, "I'd like to go over the added rules for this question."

They had to wait for the man to berate a Suna genin coming back from the bathroom before he could resume.

"I'll now explain… the rules of desperation." Many bodies shifted nervously at that declaration and Sakura felt her throat tighten a little bit. "First, for this question, you must choose whether to take it or not."

"Choose? What happens if we choose not to?" a kunoichi behind her asked.

"If you decide not to, your points will be reduced to zero," Ibiki said harshly. "You'll fail along with your two teammates."

Much uproar followed that as people started shouting that of course, then, they all would take the question. But the examiner acted as if no one had spoken, resuming in his grim tone.

"And now the other rule. If you decide to take it and answer incorrectly…" and here he made a pause charged with tension, "you will lose the right to take the chuunin selection exam ever again."

Only Akamaru could be heard in the stunned silence that ensued, as he whined loudly.

"What kind of stupid rule is that?" Kiba mirrored his companion a second later. "There are guys here who have taken the exam before!"

The scarred ninja once again surprised everyone as he laughed quietly. The sound had a creepy almost sadistic quality to it.

"You guys were unlucky," he said. "It's my rules this year." He leaned his head very slightly towards the door and something in Sakura's head clicked. "But I'm giving you a way out. Those that aren't confident enough can decide not to take the question… and can try again next year."

_Of course_, she thought, her eyes narrowing dangerously at the man as she realized what was going on

"So…" he continued, "those who do not wish to take it can raise their hand. Once your number is confirmed you can leave."

Sakura looked around the room and finally at her two teammates. She noticed how Sasuke was looking at Naruto and couldn't help but frown a little. The blond seemed very worried now, his mind no doubt wondering what he should do, and seeing his anxious face, she felt the sudden urge to stand up and explain to him what was happening. She refrained from doing so, though, glancing briefly at the various examiners around her. She bit her lower lip restlessly.

_Think, Naruto. Come o__n._

When the genin next to the blond raised his hand, she let out a long sigh. Other people soon started giving up, quitting this year's exam for fear of remaining stuck as genin forever. Sakura shook her head at them but kept on observing her teammate squirming a few feet away. Chancing a look at Morino Ibiki, she couldn't help but think he must have felt very pleased with himself under that expressionless mask of his.

Her gaze snapped back to Naruto when he raised his hand-

And a gasp escaped her lips when he brought it down hard onto the desk.

"Don't underestimate me!" he shouted, challenge in his voice. "I will not run!"

Dead silence descended on the room at that point and the pink-haired girl had to calm down her racing heart at what she had thought had been a close call.

"I'll take it!" her teammate continued resolutely. "Even if I stay a genin forever! I'm going to will myself to become Hokage anyway, so I don't care! I'm not afraid!"

Sakura smiled widely before turning back to the scarred examiner, a look of determination on her face as well.

_Bring it on._

"I'll ask you again." The man addressed the blond directly this time, his quiet voice holding the littlest hint of warning. "Your life is riding on this decision. This is your last chance to quit."

But the grin on Naruto's face didn't leave space for doubt.

"I don't go back on my word," he said confidently. "That's my ninja way."

The man took one second before replying, his eyes darting briefly to the chuunin proctors lined against the walls. Sakura's eyes widened in realization as every single piece of the puzzle moved to its rightful place.

"No…"

Her feeble, surprised voice went completely unnoticed as the examiner spoke up again.

"Good decision. Now, to everyone still remaining, I congratulate you on passing the first test."

And this time, even though there was nothing creepy or sadistic in the smile on his lips, Sakura could only scowl at it.

* * *

The Forest of Death looked as ominous as its name sounded even under the afternoon sunlight, but Naruto wasn't affected by it. Not at all. The blond skipped excitedly from one branch to the other, chakra working under his feet and occasionally on his palms to keep him moving and balanced. Behind him, Sakura and Sasuke were keeping up, following him silently as he led them where only he could.

To where new Materia were awaiting him.

He smiled widely, thinking about how strange it had been when, at the creepy Mitarashi Anko's signal, as many as four Materia presences had suddenly appeared in his senses. He had looked in their general direction, then, his eyes moving quickly to Area 44 and the chuunin proctors of the second test who were unlocking its gates. He had realized at that point that whatever seal had kept those doors closed had effectively stopped him from perceiving the spheres beyond.

Until then.

He had eventually convinced his teammates to quickly circle around the area to get a better sense as to where they were located exactly, and he had decided which gate to enter through consequently. Naruto was grateful Sasuke and Sakura had indulged him, but he knew that the possible usefulness of these new Materia for the exam had been a very compelling argument in and on itself.

As the two pulling sensations that he was following intensified, the blond sped up significantly and corrected his course a little to the left, soon reaching his objective. Now in front of him, in the middle of a large group of enormous trees, stood a much smaller one, the upper portion of its trunk looking rather withered, almost sick, compared to those around him – or even compared to its own roots. It was odd how the tree appeared so healthy where it embedded into the ground and at the same time ever sofrail as it grew away from the dirt.

He dropped in front of it and grinned, his teammates landing beside him only a second later.

"Is this the place?" Sasuke asked.

"Yep. There are two of them."

The blond looked the thin tree up and down and suddenly frowned.

"I wonder if it's the Materia causing… this," Sakura commented, unconsciously voicing Naruto's own thoughts. She gestured at the lack of leaves and at the sudden dried look of the bark in the upper half of the tree.

The orange-clad genin looked up at it too and felt a little unnerved by the near complete silence around them. Not even flies and insects could be heard in that portion of forest and everything seemed still.

"Maybe I should send a clone to check," he said. "Just to be safe."

"Hn," Sasuke agreed even as two clones appeared in front of them, both equipping the Cover Materia in their right-arm holster in a by now automatic gesture.

One Kage Bunshin circled the tree while the other stepped cautiously on its trunk, applying the necessary chakra to stick to its bark. He began his march up on it a second later, while the other started digging in the dirt beside the roots. His kunai made quick work of grass and soil and the hole had already become a shallow pit when he finally slid his bare hand inside and cried out in exultance.

That was when the other clone cried out in pain.

Naruto snapped his head up immediately, bringing his eyes back to the Kage Bunshin up the tree. The burst of smoke from his disappearance hid the trunk for a moment until a grey shape barrelled out of it, flying at great speed towards them. The blond jumped away immediately, the kunai in his hand ready to be thrown at the attacker, but had to dodge again laterally as another form landed exactly where he had stood a second before. As he charged this last one with a scream, he had the chance to take a good look at it.

The thing came across as a lizard… if lizards could grow to five feet of length. Its grey scales matched the pupil-slitted eyes as it looked at him, hissing threateningly through a pair of large, pointy fangs. Naruto blocked a swift sweep of its long tail and kicked it on the neck with enough strength to send it tumbling away. It righted itself up in a moment, though, its short but sharp-looking claws firmly gripping the ground. But the blond had enough time to form his favourite seal before being attacked again and two clones were enough to block the next charge and push the creature backwards, striking it with punches and kicks.

He turned to his teammates and cursed slightly at the sea of lizards that had swarmed them. He took his cue from Sasuke, who had just overcooked a large number of them with his Great Fireball, and called up chakra into his paired second level All and Lightning Materia. The thunderstorm that followed dwindled the reptile army to small isolated batches, as the rest of them just dropped to the ground twitching madly. The remaining lizards hissed threateningly at him before scampering away, heading to the safety of the trees.

Naruto just watched them go for a moment, baffled at such a quick retreat, as the creatures disappeared as suddenly as they had come. After blinking owlishly for a couple of seconds, he finally turned to check on his friends.

"Are you guys okay?" he called. He had to step over dozens of injured lizards to reach them and when he did, barely noticing his remaining clones moving about, he found Sasuke kneeling beside Sakura and inspecting a purple injury on her calf. "Sakura-chan!"

The pink-haired girl winced in pain as she brushed the bruise lightly with her fingers. She was leaning against a tree, a thin layer of sweat clearly visible over her cheeks and forehead.

"I'm okay," she said quietly, frowning. "What were those things?"

Sasuke shook his head. "I don't know. Some kind of lizard I had never seen."

"They were hiding in the tree," Naruto commented grimly, his eyes still glued to his friend's injury.

"Camouflaging with it?" the Uchiha questioned and the blond nodded.

"They attacked the clone as soon as he got the Materia out of the trunk. It looked like… like they were protecting the sphere." He lowered his eyes. "I'm sorry, Sakura-chan."

"It's alright," the girl said at once, trying a feeble smile. It morphed into a wince a second later. "Can't you… uh… heal me?"

Naruto shook himself out of his stupid stupor. "Of course!"

As green sparks rained down on Sakura's legs, her face regained some colour, quickly returning to a healthy pinkish. The bruise didn't disappeared completely, though. It was only reduced in size and lightened to an angry red, making the actual puncture points visible.

Naruto frowned in puzzlement. The injury hadn't looked like it would have required multiple healing jutsu, but apparently it did. He tried his Restore Materia again, and then one more time.

"No use," Sasuke said when, again, the injury didn't look any better. "These are definitely fang marks." He looked at the lizards' corpses around and then exchanged a look with the blond. "I think they were poisonous."

Sakura winced again and looked down at her injury, her eyes hidden behind pink locks strayed in front of her face. "I don't feel so bad."

"Not now, maybe, but we don't know how long it takes for the poison to have an effect," the Uchiha said. "Or what kind of effect it will be."

Naruto was biting his lip nervously by that point, trying to keep himself from freaking out. He didn't know his Restore Materia couldn't deal with poison and that sucked. Guilt mixed with concern inside his stomach, provoking the most unpleasant sensation.

"Boss?"

"What?" he snapped in frustration, his head whipping around to look at the Kage Bunshin behind him. All three of them had survived, it seemed, both the two he had created to help him fight the lizards and the one who had been digging down the tree.

"Uhm," one of them started, hesitating slightly at the anger rolling out of the original. Then he reached out with his right hand and showed him the Materia in it. "I think this could help."

For a brief second, Naruto was almost overwhelmed by the desire to electrocute the clones' butts, create more to repeat the process and then throw the green sphere away. But it was a stupid reaction, he knew it, born from his worry and his helplessness in front of a hurt friend. So he tried to calm himself down, and as he finally elaborated what the Kage Bunshin had said, he couldn't help the surge of hope rising from his chest.

"What does it do?" he asked.

"We're not a hundred percent sure, but we think… we think it might be some kind of healing Materia."

The other clones nodded their agreement.

"We actually tried this one, the one that was up the tree, first," the second Naruto explained, showing a green sphere of his own, "and it looks like it has a poisonous effect. I'll show you."

He turned to a small section of bushes to their left, at little distance from the charred battleground nearby. Green light flashed all around him as he raised his hand, and what seemed like gurgling noises and sounds preceded a dozen greenish bubbles, shifting and swelling to engulf the area. When they eventually stopped reforming, the original dark green of grass and leaves had faded to a sick brown, and everything had wilted and withered as if affected by some kind of disease.

"We tried the Restore Materia on it, but it was useless," the Kage Bunshin resumed. He threw the Poison Materia to the original who caught it swiftly.

The other clone then walked up to that patch of dead undergrowth as well, reaching out with his hand. "This, instead, worked great."

Once he was close enough, he too was surrounded by a circle of light, but this time emerald sparks appeared instead of bubbles, as a nice jingle resonated in the air. The effect would have been identical to the Restore Materia's if it hadn't been for the deep green smoke that accompanied it, swarming down on the bushes like a cloud… like a cloud of poison, Naruto had to admit it.

The results, though, hinted at the opposite.

The Materia healed the small plants entirely.

The blond couldn't help but bark out a laugh at the now perfectly healthy shrubs in front of him.

"We think they are the reason why the tree looks like that," the clone said, pointing at the half-healthy and half-withered trunk nearby, and Naruto had to admit that the theory made sense.

He shook his head then, dismissing it from his mind as he grinned fiercely at his clones first and at Sakura-chan then.

"What are we waiting for?" He snatched the Heal Materia from his copy's hand and kneeled in front of his friend. Rolling up the left hem of his trousers, he equipped both his new spheres in two of the four open slots and looked up at his teammates.

"Do it, Naruto," Sasuke said simply and Sakura nodded.

Some green smoke and sparks later and no mark was visible on the girl's calf anymore.

And then it started.

There was barely the time for him to cheer and for Sakura to smile in relief before an incredibly strong wind and explosion crashed against them in a hot, powerful wave. Naruto was flung away at unbelievable speed, his rolling body hitting trees and ground with painful and numbing impacts that soon had his head spinning. The flow of memories of his dispelled Kage Bunshin didn't help either, and when he finally stopped with one last collision against a hard, rough surface, it took him a while to regain his bearings.

He was sprawled in a wide clearing, dark and stout trees surrounding him. Unlike the spot where the two Materia had been hidden, this part of Area 44 wasn't quiet at all. Birds chirped and insects droned nearby, and something else, something big and heavy was moving through the forest.

He sat up abruptly at the ominous noise and looked up just in time to see the head of an enormous snake forcing its way into the clearing, gigantic body slithering in its wake. It destroyed everything on its path, felling trees and crushing boulders in such an effortless way that Naruto had to wonder if it even realized they were there. If the creatures that had attacked them earlier could have been considered overgrown lizards, then the thing now in front of him couldn't be anything but the Queen and Goddess of all the snakes.

And it was coming straight towards him.

* * *

Author's notes – Since someone asked, here's the current combination of Naruto's Materia:

Left leg-holster – Poison/Heal + empty slot/empty slot.

Right leg-holster – Enemy Skill/Sense + Leviathan/Steal.

Left arm-holster – Ice/All + Lightning2/All2.

Right arm-holster – Fire2/Elemental + Restore/empty slot.

Pocket – Cover2.

That's all.

Uncle Stojil


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

* * *

Even after standing up as quickly as possible, ignoring the annoying pulsing in his head, the giant snake was already above Naruto. Its forked tongue tasted the air, eyes trying to bore a hole through the genin.

"Huge…" was the only sound escaping the blond's lips as he stared at the creature for an interminable second. It seemed like the whole forest had stopped to see what would happen and the ninja found himself holding his breath in anticipation before springing into action.

The snake moved swiftly to attack, his head coming down to swallow his body whole, but Naruto had already jumped backwards and out of the way, his hands forming the seal for his Kage Bunshin no jutsu. He created a dozen clones, and as soon as he was reasonably sure they would have at least slowed the serpent down, he turned on his heel and put some distance between them. Stopping upon a solid tree branch, still in line of sight, he watched as his huge opponent crushed his copies to death, its tail flicking around to intercept the few that its head had missed.

Naruto cursed, created another batch and sent them to the slaughter. The snake was already slithering towards him, body almost flowing like a river through the undergrowth, but the Kage Bunshin were better prepared this time, not to say better positioned, and managed to hit the enemy with their Ice Materia before being dispelled. The creature hissed in anger and discomfort as the techniques struck it mostly on its body, ice shards flying everywhere, but Naruto wasn't sure if it had gotten hurt or just annoyed. There was no visible injury he could see and the thing had certainly not slowed down as it reached for him.

Running away once again, the blond tried to weave through the trees in the hope of shaking it off, but the snake simply barrelled through any hindrance it found in its way, catching up to him in little time. Like a huge scaly whip, its head lashed out at terrifying speed, mouth opened so awfully wide as to look like a dark, bottomless pit. Naruto barely avoided it, only to be hit by the tail a second later. It was a glancing blow, fortunately, and although it hurled him fast through the air and eventually against the ground, the genin knew he could have ended up much, much worse.

Still, a sharp pain pierced his left shoulder and arm as he landed, rolling through the forest a few more feet before awkwardly coming to a stop. Staying down would mean being as good as dead, he knew it, so he stumbled up and kept on moving, not slowing even half a step while using the Restore Materia to heal his injuries. He kept on sending Kage Bunshin at the snake, and some were finally getting results with their jutsu, but it was pretty clear they could never win against that opponent. What he really needed was a little time, and the clones looked like they could at least grant him that.

He didn't realize he was running towards his teammates until he saw them, standing still in a clearing and looking panicked and more than a little bruised as they faced a single shinobi. The blond felt a pang of annoyance as he compared the lone guy to the giant beast coming after him, and that was when he finally noticed that he had actually a bit of a lead on it. Hoping that it was enough to give him the time he needed, he jumped to the edge of the clearing, dug his heels into the forest floor and whirled as steadily and quickly as he could.

Then he called up chakra.

It took an eternity for the green light around him to vanish, together with the strange colourful orbs floating through it, and it took probably as much for the Sea God to finally materialize from inside the enormous block of water that followed.

Leviathan looked at him and then at the snake quickly approaching them. Naruto would later swear that the sea serpent arched an eyebrow at him as if to ask for confirmation. He would also swear that his next order didn't come out high-pitched at all, as he hastily pointed at the incoming enemy.

"Get him!"

Leviathan turned his head and hissed his threat, and just as the creature reached them, a very high tsunami rose in front of it, apparently out of nowhere. It wasn't nearly as big as the one produced in the Land of Waves, but Naruto was already expecting that, having tested the Materia in the forest of Konoha after his return. Not boosted by the ocean, the Sea God's attack was hardly as impressive, but it was more than enough.

A veritable wall of water crashed against the snake with the power of a freight train, sweeping everything away almost effortlessly. The creature writhed desperately against the current for a few seconds before finally stopping its struggle. The tsunami continued to roll forward, anyway, carrying its body and everything it met on its path away from them.

Even through his panting, Naruto let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank you."

He nodded at Leviathan gratefully before he could disappear, then he turned around.

He found that Sasuke had taken advantage of his flashy entrance to drag Sakura towards him, while the foreign shinobi simply stared intently. Now that he wasn't being chased by a huge beast anymore, the blond could take a moment to observe the ninja, recognizing him as the creepy Grass one with the long tongue. He only broke eye-contact when his teammates joined him at the edge of the clearing.

They looked scared.

"What's going on here?"

"Naruto," Sasuke said urgently, "don't even think about fighting that man. He's just… on a whole other level."

As a kind of reply, the ninja in question laughed ominously. "Looks like my pet snake lost to yours, eh Naruto-kun?"

"That was yours?" the blond snapped in surprise and anger, and he suddenly noticed how much… _snake-like _the enemy actually looked. He scowled harshly at the creepy shinobi and took a step forward.

"Don't!" the Uchiha hissed at him immediately, putting a hand on his shoulder to grip it firmly.

"What are you-"

The orange-clad genin didn't finish the sentence, as he looked down at the fingers digging painfully into his flesh.

They were shaking.

More than a little unnerved, Naruto raised his gaze and met Sasuke's.

"Just… just check on him with the Sense Materia."

"Uh… what-"

"Just do it, okay?"

Naruto frowned at him before bringing his attention back to the lonely man in the middle of the clearing. With barely a conscious thought, he watched as colourful bars of different size unfolded all around him…

… and then lengthened impossibly.

His eyes widened in shock at what he saw, a shiver of dread slithering up his spine. It looked like Kabuto wasn't the strongest ninja participating in the chuunin exam, after all.

The guy in front of him was as strong as the Hokage.

* * *

Sasuke watched the colour drain from the Dobe's face and couldn't help another shiver from reaching his hands and making them shake, imagining what the blond could have seen. There had been no doubt in his head that the Grass ninja they were facing was on a completely different league from theirs, but having it actually confirmed by Naruto's Sense Materia and seeing his consequent reaction was… simply blood-chilling. If he hadn't had the sharingan on, he would have probably missed the tensing of his shoulders and the slight shift in weight of his body, all things the Dobe had probably tried to hide.

Moving his eyes back to the enemy, Sasuke observed him for a long second before coming to a decision. Shrugging off the last trace of the killing intent's attack he and Sakura had been subjected to, he deactivated the sharingan and reached for the heaven scroll in a pocket of his jacket. He swallowed.

"Here's our scroll," he said, struggling against the dryness of his mouth. He held the object up for the enemy's inspection. "We will give it to you if you leave us alone."

The sentence seemed to shake Naruto out of his frozen state.

"What?!" he snapped, taking a step towards him. "Why would we give the scroll to the enemy? What the hell are you doing?"

Sasuke actually growled at the blond's idiocy, a surge of annoyance and anger making their way through his fear and uneasiness.

"What am I doing?!" he grumbled. "I'm saving our necks, retard, that's what!"

"Saving our necks before they can even be in danger!" his teammate said angrily. "And by making us fail! That's a great plan, Teme, really a great plan!"

"We wouldn't fail, Dobe," the Uchiha retorted. "We'd just need to take two other scrolls instead of one."

That put a temporary stop to Naruto's protest.

"Are you sure?" he asked eventually and then his eyes widened. "What if- what if this is just another trick? Like the one in the first test!" He pointed at the Grass shinobi expectantly but the man only looked amused by their discussion. "That guy is too strong to be a genin! What if he isn't? What if he's an examiner in disguise, like those who knew the answers to the written test?"

It was Sasuke's time to hesitate now. He glanced back and forth from his teammate to the enemy and thought about it. Sakura too seemed to be considering the idea.

"I-it could be," she muttered quietly. "This second test is… a field-simulation of a message-delivering mission. That proctor-woman said so herself."

Naruto nodded quickly.

"Exactly!"

"As chuunin," Sakura continued more assuredly, "we will be asked to handle classified information, hence the rule about not opening the scroll and reading its content. But surrendering it to the enemy is actually far worse than that." She looked back at the ninja. "This could be a trick to see if we're willing to protect the information when threatened."

Sasuke mumbled noncommittally, unsure. "Underneath the underneath, huh?"

They all turned towards the lone man to see whether he would confirm their theory or not but… he just cackled, long and slow, and even his laughter had a snake-like quality to it.

"That's quite amusing… and smart," he said eventually, dark eyes boring into each one of them with incredible intensity. "However, you are only half-right. True, I'm not really a genin participating in this exam. But I'm not an examiner in disguise, either."

In the silence that followed, Sasuke could hear the distant rushing of water, remnant of Naruto's summon. He swallowed nervously, fiddling with the scroll a brief second before putting it back in his pocket. It had become a useless bargaining chip, now.

"Why are you here, then?" he asked, and once again the Grass ninja laughed ominously.

"I'm here for you, Sasuke-kun."

The simple sentence made his heart skip a beat.

"Well, that wasn't creepy at all," he heard the Dobe say, but he didn't have the nerve to move his eyes off the enemy. It came as a surprise, then, when his teammate shouted more forcefully, "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

A sea of Shadow clones appeared in front of them, an orange barrier of genin ready for battle, while the original blond tilted his head towards the forest.

"Let's get the hell out of here."

Sasuke wholeheartedly agreed and had barely the time to see the first line of Kage Bunshin surging forward before he turned on his heel and ran for the trees. He took the lead with Sakura a little to his left and Naruto behind, and they followed him to the portion of forest not completely destroyed by Leviathan's attack. The ground was still flooded in many spots, swamped areas in which it could have proven difficult to navigate, so they kept to the branches and moved as silently and fast as possible, chased by the sounds of jutsu and screams all the while. It didn't take long before the Dobe let out a stream of curses.

"Incoming!"

As soon as he heard the warning, Sasuke jumped out of the way, bouncing on another branch before dropping back to the ground. There was a loud crack above him and he looked up to see that the tree they had been on had disappeared entirely under the body of another enormous snake. The Grass ninja was standing calmly on its head, looking comfortable and unscathed, while the huge summon appeared definitely worse for wear – compliments of some of Naruto's techniques, no doubt – but far from severely wounded or hurt.

Sakura landed next to him a second later, a simple kunai in her hand. Sasuke would have snorted at such a pitiful weapon in front of that gigantic creature if he hadn't realized he wasn't much better-equipped himself. So he drew a kunai of his own and tried to take some comfort in re-activating the Sharingan.

Naruto was nowhere to be seen, but a large and loud puff of smoke by the tail-end of the snake informed them he was still alright. Sasuke didn't know whether his plan was still to buy them some time with his copies, but he wasn't so sure anymore that running was the best way to go, either. Besides, knowing the Dobe, he was probably going to battle it out this time.

Countless clones resumed their attack, green light flashing around their body even as they charged, but the summon was fast, relentless and simply too big to miss when it moved, and although that went both ways, the blond's Materia seemed to barely _scratch _its scales, while even a glancing blow from its head was deadly to multiple Kage Bunshin. The shinobi on top of it didn't stay idle either, easily avoiding ninjutsu and retaliating in kind.

Sasuke's sharingan whirled hungrily when the man used a powerful technique to first sweep away and then burn to a cinder a large batch of Narutos, but most of the attacks were snake-related and resulted useless to the copying ability of his doujutsu. He ignored that for the time being as he moved in to help his teammate, hands going up to his mouth to breath out a large fireball directed at the enemy. The jutsu struck true on the summon's body, but the creature seemed to shake it off after a hiss of annoyance, and Sasuke and Sakura had to jump away to avoid a retaliating lash of its tail.

As soon as he landed, the Uchiha shot towards a couple of nearby clones who were just waiting for an opening to attack.

"Launch me up!"

Without even waiting to see if they understood, he closed the distance between them and jumped on their outstretched hands. Kicking hard, he was flung upwards and in the snake's direction, hovering above its tail for what felt like an eternity as he flipped through the air. In the meantime, his fingers were moving rapidly to form seals while he built up the chakra needed for the technique. Once done, the remaining water that had flooded the area earlier swirled around and bundled together, soon rising from the ground in the shape of a dragon. The Suiton creature sprang into action and rushed the summon, crashing against its midsection like a muddy, roaring punch.

The snake hissed – definitely in pain this time – and its head whipped around to bite at the offender, but the water dragon had already served its purpose and simply dispersed, lifeless. All the counterattack really did was to put Sasuke in a more favourable position, as he ended up much closer to the Grass ninja than he would have otherwise.

Landing on the head of the beast, he ignored the water splashing around and ran up to the enemy shinobi, applying chakra under his feet to better stick to the wet, scaly ground. Even despite the resumed wild movements of the creature, he managed to stay on top of it and get closer to the target. The Grass ninja had looked busy against a fresh batch of clones, but Sasuke's first swing with a kunai from his blind spot was swiftly avoided. Still, the sharingan had predicted that and the next jab shot up immediately to strike the man's face. This second blow was parried, instead, but the Uchiha followed it with a combo of kicks and punches that managed to keep the enemy from taking the initiative.

Trying to sweep the shinobi off his feet, Sasuke was satisfied to see him jump further down the snake's body to put some distance between them. He was probably expecting to be chased after, judging by the surprised look on his face when, on the contrary, the Uchiha turned left and ran for the summon's face. He reached for the fuuma shuriken in his holster, and before the creature could even realize it, he stabbed one of the four sharp ends of the weapon deeply into its left eye.

The blade plunged into the yellow around the pupil, a surface much softer than its scales, and the snake reared its head up, thrashing madly and hissing like never before. The clones surrounding it cheered at the scene, their attacks fuelled by the successful hit and by the moment of hesitation on the creature's part. Meanwhile, with a new fuuma shuriken clutched between his fingers, Sasuke ruthlessly went for the remaining eye.

Almost magically, something appeared to stop his hand, and the Uchiha looked down in surprise at the arm sticking out of the snake's skin. It was soon joined by the rest of the Grass ninja's body, seemingly rising up from his summon as if from a water surface. The man laughed, a chilling hum that together with the cold fingers gripping his wrist, sent shivers down Sasuke's spine.

"Not bad, Sasuke-kun," he said, actually sounding pleased, and the genin's fingers slackened completely to let go of the shuriken. "I see why you would go after my pet's eyes instead of pursuing me. If you'd neutralized it, you and Naruto-kun could have joined forces against me and hopefully have a chance." His smile widened some more. "Just as I thought… I want you."

The Uchiha couldn't move, pinned by a gaze so intense that he had to wonder if it alone was enough to keep him frozen or if there was also a genjutsu at work. The summon's movements were a bit sickening now that he was completely still on top of it and he realized that the snake had gone back to its normal attacks on Naruto's clones, but he couldn't even _turn away_ from the man staring into his eyes, much less do something – _anything_– about it. His wrist had finally been released but it didn't make a difference. It seemed like the only two things his body had no problem doing were blinking and breathing.

"Oh yes, you really are brothers" the shinobi resumed. "I sense power in your eyes that surpasses Itachi's."

The simple name shocked Sasuke to the bone and he could feel his own sharingan blaze angrily as his eyes widened. He tried to talk.

"Who the hell…" he slurred, struggling to move his mouth and tongue, "are you?"

"My name is Orochimaru," the ninja said, fingers moving to form the crossed tiger hand-seal. "If you want to see me again, then survive the exam… and the Sound nin trio on the way."

And before Sasuke had the time to say anything more, the man's neck sprang forward as if made of rubber, extending freakishly to strike at him. Heartbeat thundering in his ears, the Uchiha watched, helpless, as a gleaming pair of fangs closed on him.

Naruto materialized to take the attack in his stead.

Sasuke had barely the time to feel surprised, both at the sudden appearance of the blond and the unexpected freedom that followed. Whatever hold this Orochimaru had had on him disappeared as if it had never been there, while the Dobe's copy went up in smoke. Instincts kicking in, Sasuke punched forward and inside that cloud, and felt like cheering when his fist connected solidly with the face of the enemy.

"Watch out, guys!" he heard Naruto's warning over the ruckus of techniques and hisses. "The bastard bites like his snake!"

He ignored it as the elongated neck pulled away, retreating to the not so distant body. The Uchiha didn't waste a single second in throwing a bunch of shuriken at him, and as the Grass shinobi was forced to dodge, he took advantage of the break to drop quickly off the snake's body and to the safe – or _safer _– ground below.

Landing in a boggy patch of dirt, he stumbled a little before sprinting towards his teammates. They were standing near a fallen tree, looking on with weary expressions as the remaining clones got slaughtered under their eyes. Sakura had large red blotches splattered all over her left shoulder and arm, but there was no visible injury anywhere on her body. Her face looked extremely pale, though, giving the impression that she had indeed lost a lot of blood and only Naruto's Restore Materia had hidden the cause. The blond next to her, presumably the original, had a look of frustration on his face and – for the first time as far as Sasuke could remember – a real strain in his voice.

"He's… he's a freak," he panted quietly. Almost absently, he rolled up his right sleeve and let what looked like rock shards fall to the ground. Sasuke recognized that as the sign of one of his Materia's upgrade – most probably the Ice one, he reasoned, since he knew it was next in line. "That snake… is tough."

Sasuke wasn't sure whether he was referring to the actual snake or its master, because, frankly, it applied to both of them, but he nodded his head in agreement all the same.

"Teme… you've got… one more of your thingies, there."

He looked at the Dobe in surprise, briefly taking his eyes off the enemy. He hadn't really felt it in the heat of battle and the frenzy of the moment, but now that he thought about it, he could feel something different in his perception of the world. His doujutsu had improved. He allowed a twinge of pride to twist his lips before focusing on the matter at hand.

"Hn."

Sakura's voice was shaking a little when she spoke up. "N-Naruto, can't you summon Leviathan again? If only we could get rid of the summon…"

The orange-clad genin frowned, concentrated and then exhaled loudly, dropping his shoulders in weariness. "Not yet… Downtime is… still up."

"What are we going to do?" the girl wanted to know in a feeble voice.

As an answer of sorts, the Grass ninja chuckled creepily. All the Kage Bunshin were gone now and only the three of them remained, standing in an area that had been full of vegetation until a couple of minutes before and that now looked like a smouldering desert, devoid of any life. Trees had fallen everywhere under the weight of the snake or the power of ninjutsu, and columns of smoke were lifting from all around, where high, hot flames were licking up at the sky like flickering tongues. The enemy's laughter resonated through the destroyed battleground.

"Very entertaining, I must say."

He smiled amusedly, in odd contrast with the summon's one-eyed glare. The creature lowered its head towards a nearby rock and the shinobi stepped off gracefully, appearing absolutely calm in all that mess. Sasuke would have probably felt smug for the swelling on his tanned face if he hadn't been so pissed and, mostly, so afraid. He was caught completely off guard when the ninja put a hand on his pet and dispelled it. He was even more shocked when he realized that, once again, the muscles of his body weren't answering his orders.

"Ah! I can't move!" Naruto's mumbled cry confirmed his suspicions, as did Sakura's gasp. He tried to talk too but only a gurgling sound escaped his mouth.

Orochimaru laughed, advancing towards them. His tongue flicked out to lick his lips, shooting out of his mouth much like a snake would do. Sasuke couldn't even move his head to follow the appendage as it disappeared out of the corner of his eye.

"Wah!" Naruto mumbled in anger through a half-closed mouth. "Let go of me!"

The ninja was now standing very close, right in front of the blond who looked to be hanging upside down, helpless. The Uchiha was only able to see his face, rage written all over it, but there was nothing he could do, still totally frozen.

"Just as I thought," the Grass shinobi murmured, peering intently at the Dobe. "You are _him_."

"Put me down…" his teammate ordered, struggling to keep on talking, "you bastard!"

He was, of course, ignored.

"Oh, my… the seal is visible and it's-" And here the man stopped talking for a second. "Hm? What are these?"

There was another moment of silence, a rustle of cloth and then a quiet click. Sasuke only saw Orochimaru's hands reach out for something and then withdraw with a round stone clutched between his fingers.

It was one of Naruto's Materia.

"Don't-" the blond shrieked, completely jumbling the following words. There was a note of panic in his voice, this time.

The ninja turned the sphere around as he studied it closely.

"Is this… no…" He started making one-handed seals with a speed that would have put Haku to shame. "Interesting…"

"Give… back!"

He looked sharply down at the still dangling Dobe and a slow smile started spreading on his tanned face. He pocketed the sphere.

"Hmmm… I'm afraid I need to borrow these little rocks of yours, Naruto-kun," he said. "Just for a while."

But as his hands reached out for the Materia holsters, a deep, rumbling growl came out of the blond's throat.

"Give. It. Back!"

The chaos that followed left Sasuke astonished. Faster than even his sharingan could see, a clawed hand of red chakra shot at Orochimaru and simply… ripped his face off. He watched that hideous mass of skin fall to the ground and crumble to pieces, but was extremely surprised when he realized the Grass ninja was miraculously alive. No, scratch that.

He was _fine_.

He had jumped backwards and out of reach, his tongue regaining normal proportions and size. Instead of the copious amount of blood one would have expected, there was a new face in place of the destroyed one, as if that hadn't been nothing more than a mask. He appeared extremely pale now, like a porcelain doll, and his features were sharper, more angular. Even the swelling, compliment of Sasuke's punch, had disappeared as if it had never been there. The dark eyes were exactly the same, though.

The Uchiha watched in trepidation as Naruto stood back up, apparently free to move. He had changed too, not as drastically as Orochimaru had, but certainly enough to surprise him. His pupils were slitted, his nails longer, his whisker marks more prominent. There was an aura of power surrounding him, very similar to the red claw that had already attacked the Grass shinobi, but also wilder and less controlled. Most of it seemed to be directed at the enemy ninja, but the latent killing intent that washed over Sasuke was enough to take his breath away.

"…ruto…"

Sakura's whimper was almost completely drowned out by the blond's subsequent roar, as he pounced on the enemy like a furious beast. His first punch missed Orochimaru's face by a matter of inches, but Naruto wasn't done. He kept on attacking and attacking, actually hitting the ninja with a kick at one point, before disappearing out of Sasuke's field of vision while still pursuing the enemy.

And was that a tail coming out of the Dobe's ass?

Stunned by the unexpected turn of events, the Uchiha could only listen helplessly to the fading sounds of battle for another few more seconds, as he tried to think of something.

"Sakura," he mumbled. "Can you… move?"

"N-no," the girl answered him from his right. He couldn't see her at all but she sounded scared. She mumbled a few more things but he only got one word out of it.

"Shibari?" he repeated.

"Yeah…"

He remembered that genjutsu, one conceived to bind the target and prevent them from using self-harm to get free. What was the way out of it again? He couldn't remember. He tried to capitalize on the discomfort of the position he had been frozen into, but he couldn't even shift his weight or centre of mass. He thought of biting his own lip or tongue but his mouth wouldn't cooperate.

"What… do we do?" he asked then, and felt like screaming at Sakura's unintelligible answer. "…what?"

"…breathing…" she tried again amidst something incomprehensible.

Breathing? How would breathing get them out of this shitty-

_Oh._

_Stop breathing._

An explosion resonated from somewhere behind them and his heart jumped to his throat at Naruto's feral cry. There was something so animalistic about it that it chilled him from head to toe, and even despite the genjutsu binding, he found himself shivering. Beside him, Sakura whimpered quietly and he couldn't help but let out a distressed moan himself. He didn't know what was happening to the Dobe, although he had a good guess. What he _knew _was that he hated feeling so helpless.

"…okay…" he whispered, exhaling.

Then he stopped breathing.

It took much, much longer than he had expected, but, eventually, he got to the point where his mind started getting sluggish and his vision got swarmed by black and white spots. A sharp burning sensation spread from his lungs, enhancing his urge to take in air and give them relief, but a part of him still remembered that it was that excruciating stab in his chest that would give him freedom, so he held onto it with everything he had. The pain became unbearable as he started losing first awareness and then consciousness.

He didn't know how long it took him to regain his bearings, but when he did, he found himself curled on the ground, gasping for air. Every intake of breath was like a handful of needles shoved down his throat and through his lungs and he stayed where he was for a long while, the right side of his face sunk in mud.

He was free to move.

Rolling on his back, he looked up at the clear sky and tried to order the jumbled thoughts in his head. His sharingan had deactivated, he thought idly, and he wasn't sure he would have enough chakra left to bring it out again. His body felt tired and heavy and his brain was still struggling to wrap around what exactly had happened and why.

Sakura's sudden gasp drew his attention, and when his eyes met hers, he finally remembered what was going on, realizing that she had just come to, herself, after escaping the genjutsu. Her figure, kneeled on the forest floor with her hands in the mud, trembled in pain and effort as she struggled to take in air.

He sat up.

Where was the Dobe?

As if on cue, the dead last in question arrived in the clearing with the speed of a bullet, landing awkwardly on his back and rolling a few more feet before crashing against a fallen tree. A mask of pain marred his bloody features as he tried to stand up, only to stumble back to the ground while fighting to regain his bearings and breathing. The red chakra swirling around him had all but vanished, while his changes in appearance had become far less evident. No tail was visible anymore, for example, and the marks on his cheeks had gone back to being just that, marks, instead of actual whiskers. Even his low, animalistic growls were quickly transforming into more human-like grunts and moans.

Rising up to one knee despite the spinning of his head, Sasuke mustered what was left of his wits and strength and pulled a kunai out of his holster.

"Naruto," he gasped out and his teammate's blue eyes owlishly shifted to him, unfocused. "Dobe, where's-"

He couldn't help but flinch when Orochimaru suddenly landed in front of him, an amused glance directed at the blond. Beside an injured and bloody shoulder he was currently massaging, the ninja seemed to be fine.

Dammit, the Uchiha thought in resignation. He wasn't even that surprised.

"Such a feisty one," the Grass shinobi commented, another cackle leaving his lips. "Your little trick must have alerted quite a few bothersome people I don't plan to meet just yet. I'm afraid I don't have any more time to play with you."

Sasuke was just about to throw his last, desperate attack, when the man turned towards him and once again froze him in place.

"Now," he continued, drawing out the word, "where were we?"

Grin widening and fangs growing sharper with it, he stared down the Uchiha in evident eagerness.

"No!"

Sakura's gasp was completely ignored as Orochimaru's neck stretched forward for the final bite.

Sasuke closed his eyes. This time, no clone materialized to save him.

* * *

As the Kyuubi's chakra receded back behind the seal, Naruto was finally able to think straight once again. It felt like waking up from a surreal dream where everything had been misshapen and out of place, and where every action he had taken was ridiculous if looked at from a normal perspective. Fuelled by his anger at having one of his weapons stolen under his nose, that powerful red energy had simply taken over, and he hadn't been able to do a thing about it, not as surprised and irrational as he had been, at least.

The simple lingering effects of that sensation, that rush of animalistic fury and power, were enough to make his body shiver in both need and fear. He decided that he didn't like that feeling at all.

Shaking his head as if to clear it from invisible cobwebs, he was finally lucid enough to truly elaborate the horrible screaming registering in his ears.

It was Sasuke's.

Without the Demon's chakra fogging his thinking process, his brain was back to spinning on its usual wheels… too bad it was his body, now, that wasn't answering him properly.

Watching helplessly was all Naruto could do as the enemy ninja retreated, his freakish neck snapping back to its rightful place like a rubber band, leaving behind the agonizing Uchiha. The Teme was clutching the side of his neck in pain, eyes wide open and barred. His whole body started trembling and convulsing a second later, falling stiffly into Sakura's arms as she appeared next to him.

"Sasuke-kun!" she cried out, sounding out of breath. "What did you do to him?"

The Grass shinobi was already disappearing from sight, sinking into the muddy ground with a grin on his face.

"I gave him a going away present," he said in evident amusement.

Then he was gone.

"Bastard!" Naruto shouted angrily, desperately. He tried to stand up again, but his legs wouldn't hear any of it and he fell back down with a grunt of exertion. "Answer… answer Sakura-chan's question! Give the Materia back! I'm… I'm not done with you!"

Frustration rose up from the heating in his chest and he punched the ground hard, barely feeling the pain on his knuckles over the sharp burning of the rest body. Blood was running down his face, he realized, looking down at the red spots under him, and it took him a moment to remember he actually had the means to do something about it. He had practically forgotten about it in the Demon-induced rage he had been subjected to earlier on.

As the healing green sparks washed over him and his Restore Materia worked on his injuries, he let out a sigh of relief, glad that the bleeding, at least, had stopped. He touched the stone gratefully through his drenched and dirty jumpsuit, but couldn't help but scowl harshly when his fingers brushed against the empty slot where the Leviathan sphere had been until minutes before.

That freak bastard… he had stolen his Materia! His summon! How could he have let something like that happen?

The thought haunted him for just a moment, though, before reason could break through annoyance, anger and guilt. Forget about Leviathan, he told himself… he had been lucky to keep his other Materia and his life! The enemy had simply been on a whole different league from his. Not even the meddling of the Kyuubi had been enough to reverse the outcome, and Naruto had no doubt that if he had used his Sense sphere to check on himself at that point, the results would have been off the charts compared to his standard ones.

No… there was no reason to complain about his situation when it could have easily been much worse.

Brushing the upsetting matter aside, he gave the Restore Materia another go before trying to stand up. His legs still felt sluggish as hell, but he finally managed to put his feet under him and stumble towards his friends. He kneeled carefully beside them, Sasuke, writhing on the ground, and Sakura, holding his hand next to him, bright tears in her eyes as she whispered soothing words to the agonizing Uchiha.

"H-hang in there, Sasuke-kun. It's going to be f-fine… you a-are going to be fine."

"Sakura-chan," the blond called, putting a hand on her arm. "Stand back for a moment."

The pink-haired kunoichi looked up questioningly at him before realization could make its way through her panic and worry. She let go of Sasuke's hand and leaned back a little, expectantly. The Uchiha was gasping and moaning now, seemingly too tired and out of breath to even keep up with the screaming.

Naruto glared at the bite marks on his neck and the strange symbol that had appeared just beside them. It looked somewhat like the sharingan and its tomoes in shape, but it wasn't quite the same. The blond didn't know what it meant, all he knew was that it hurt his friend and he was going to stop it. Ignoring his own weariness, he called up chakra for the umpteenth time in the last few minutes and concentrated.

It took a little longer than usual, but then the green light appeared all around Naruto, followed by the rain of sparks of the Restore Materia. It cascaded onto the Uchiha as a soft jingle resonated around them, a way too cheerful sound for the moment and the place. When the effects of the medical jutsu disappeared, Naruto was shocked to see that the injury hadn't changed at all.

"Huh? It didn't work?" he asked in irritation, scowling down at his teammate. "Oi! Wake up, Teme! What's wrong with you?"

"N-Naruto, l-look." Sakura sniffled. "T-the injury on his leg has healed. He had done that to h-himself to get free from a genjutsu, after that Fuuton technique separated us." She pointed at Sasuke's right thigh, where only a tear in the fabric of his trousers was visible, the flesh underneath unscathed.

The blond looked back up at his friend's neck.

"But the bite didn't-" And then he remembered the lizards. "Oh…"

She nodded. "He must have been poisoned."

Naruto nodded as well. "Alright, leave it to me Sakura-chan."

He took a deep breath and gathered chakra once again. This time, together with jingle and sparks, also a green cloud of smoke fell onto the Uchiha as the Heal Materia worked on the injury. The results were immediate as the bite marks closed entirely, but the strange symbol remained.

The blond repeated the process again and again, every time feeling more frustrated and light-headed, until he was swaying dangerously, crouched beside Sasuke.

'_Naruto, you idiot! Do you plan on killing yourself? And me with you? Stop burning chakra this instant!_'

But the jinchuuriki would have none of it.

'_Shut up,_' he sent back through the mental link he shared with the Kyuubi, but the simple task required an abnormal effort in and of itself.

A low growl was his only answer and the genin went back to casting his healing jutsu.

Only Sakura's hand gripping his shoulder managed to put a stop to his attempts, and by that time, he had to blink his eyes repeatedly to truly focus them on her face. He felt so… _tired_. It had never happened to him before… not to such a degree. But he didn't think he had ever created so many clones in such little time, either, or used so many Materia at once. And he certainly had never channelled the Kyuubi's chakra to fight off a Kage-level monster of a ninja.

The simple notion seemed impossible but… he was completely worn out.

"Naruto, stop it," the pink-haired girl said forcefully. She looked more composed now, also because Sasuke had stopped moaning and gasping and had fallen asleep, the blond reasoned. "I don't know what that thing is but it's not going to disappear. Let go."

He hesitated a moment before complying, gratefully accepting the way out. He put his hands against the soft ground and leaned on them, breathing in and out slowly in the hope to find some strength.

"Are you okay?" she asked him quietly. "What happened before... Was that… was that the Kyuubi?"

Naruto nodded silently, red-coloured memories suddenly surfacing to the front of his brain. "Yeah... I didn't mean to. I got so angry I unconsciously drew from his chakra reserves," he explained. "He had warned me about it in the past, but… I wasn't exactly thinking straight when it happened." He lowered his eyes, staring at the mud slipping between his clenched fingers. "It was… overwhelming."

"But you're okay now, right?"

He easily caught the note of desperation in her voice and didn't waste a second to beam at her reassuringly.

"Yeah! I'm totally fine. Just, ugh…" he hesitated, "let me rest for a minute."

Careful not to hit Sasuke, he sat down properly, stretching his legs while focusing on breathing in and out in a regular rhythm. The ache in his limbs settled down to a bearable level and he closed his eyes to shield them from the setting sun.

"We need to get out of here."

Sakura's voice woke him from his unintentional slumber. He had dozed off without even realizing it, but he figured not much time had passed since she was in the exact same position in which he had left her, sitting with Sasuke's head on her lap. It didn't look like the sun had moved much, either.

"We're in the open and vulnerable," she continued softly. "We can't stay here."

Naruto looked around dizzily and agreed, and before he could find an excuse to fall asleep again, he pushed himself up to his feet and slapped his own cheeks energetically.

"Damn…" he said, embracing the stinging. "Being tired sucks."

Sakura seemed to smile a little at that, as she stood up herself.

"Welcome to my world."

The blond grinned at her and then crouched to pick Sasuke up. He grunted with the effort as he slung him on his shoulder and turned to the kunoichi.

"Ready," he puffed out.

"I'll help you-"

"No," he interrupted her. "Leave this to me. It's better if you take point and look out for any trouble. I'm… I'm not feeling, uhm, great, right now."

He smiled weakly as she hesitated, biting her bottom lip in silence.

Then she turned around and they started walking.

"Let's go."

No more than five minutes could have passed when they had to stop. Sasuke was moaning again, his face drawn and even paler than usual. They put him down to rest under a tree, figuring that being transported had been the problem, but when a few more minutes passed and his condition seemed to only worsen, they couldn't help but thinking differently.

"What has that… that _snake _done to him?" Sakura whispered harshly, staring with watery-eyes.

Naruto shook his head. He was making the most of the break by sprawling against a tree, but he too was staring at the Uchiha in worry. He all but crawled the few feet separating them and shook the boy.

"Oi, Teme," he called quietly and then more forcefully, "Teme!"

He waited a moment to see whether Sasuke would answer, but the boy only groaned pathetically. Then, before he could change his mind, he pushed against his own tiredness and used his Heal Materia again.

"Naruto," Sakura called, but the reprimanding tone was barely there. She peered down hopefully as the green cloud and sparks disappeared.

The Uchiha was resting peacefully once again.

"The poison must still be in his system," she mused. "And the Materia can only slow it down, it seems."

"Better than nothing," he said cheerfully, trying to hide the dizziness that threatened to overwhelm him. Something must have shown on his face, though, because Sakura was splitting her concerned gaze between both her teammates, now.

"Don't push it, Naruto, please," she said quietly, finally averting her eyes. "Let's find someplace safe, first, so you can rest and _then _help Sasuke."

He grinned at her, struggling to make sense of her words. He eventually accepted the hand helping him up.

He didn't know how long they marched, it could have been minutes or days to his drowsy mind. He remembered stopping once or twice and Sakura asking him questions. He vaguely recalled using a jutsu once more but he had no idea what for. There was something heavy slung on his right shoulder but he knew it was there for a reason and he couldn't just drop it and be done with it.

It was important to him.

The next time he blinked, he found himself in a cave of sorts, lying on cold rock. Night had fallen and it was dark in there, so it took his eyes a moment to see Sakura kneeling beside him, looking over Sasuke. She had put a wet cloth on the Uchiha's forehead but he was still shaking as if he had a fever.

Naruto felt absolutely fine, instead.

"Sakura-chan," he called, sitting up. "How is he?"

The girl was startled by his voice, tensing visibly for a moment before relaxing again.

"Oh, Naruto, you're awake. How do you feel?"

"I'm great. Honest," he added when she looked sceptical.

And he was.

He could feel his chakra, now back to an acceptable level, he imagined, and his body felt much more responsive as well. It was such a relief. Being tired… he _really _had hated that.

He moved to kneel on the other side of Sasuke and didn't waste any time before hitting him with his Heal Materia. The green glow of his jutsu showed him the inside of the cave more clearly, as well as Sakura's taut face. He smiled up at the kunoichi and gave her a thumb up as a second circle of light preceded yet another shower of sparks and smoke.

"I got it," he said confidently.

She mumbled something unintelligible before shaking her head. They watched as colour slowly returned to Sasuke's face, which relaxed immediately together with the rest of his body. Sakura exhaled a long, relieved breath.

"Naruto… thank you," she said, suddenly sounding dead-tired. "Still… don't overdo it with your Poisona, okay? I don't think I could take it if you went back to that drunken zombie state."

Naruto blinked.

"Drunken zombie state? Poisona?"

She snorted lightly.

"I guess you don't remember." She leaned back against the wall of the cave and brought a hand up to massage her left shoulder. Naruto had healed the gash the snake had opened there, but there was no doubt she was still sore and stiff. "You were pretty out of it, mumbling nonsense and shambling around like that. I thought 'drunken zombie' fit perfectly. You named your jutsu- yeah, that one," she added when he gave his Heal Materia another go. "You named it Poisona, I have no idea why. You were very insistent about it, though."

The blond blushed a little, glad the place was very dark now that the green light of his technique had died out. It sounded like he had gone a bit crazy on the way to their shelter. He barely remembered walking.

He decided to change the subject.

"Did the bastard wake up _at all _while I was out?"

Sakura didn't seem to have the strength for a full-blown glare, but her half-hearted one still earned a sheepish smile from him. She didn't keep it up long, anyway, her eyes lowering to their sleeping teammate as she shook her head.

"He's gotten worse while you rested," she said in a very small voice, as if actually afraid to wake him. "The pain came back, with a fever this time. It has only gone up since we got here." She forced a smile to her lips, and Naruto had to wonder if it was real. "But Poisona is going to help him. He'll be fine soon, won't he?"

He didn't make her wait an instant before agreeing. "You can bet on it! He'll be back to brooding as normal before you can say 'Materia'!"

His next kick-ass declaration froze on his lips as he finally realized something. He looked out of the cave and then to the other side, where the stone walls disappeared into the darkness. Wondering about how deep the place actually was, he blinked his eyes at the black passage carved through the rock.

"Sakura-chan?" he asked in puzzlement. "Did I create a clone before… well, before I came to?"

"A clone? In the condition you were in? Thank God, no."

He mirrored her frown.

"Then why is there a- holy shit!" he shouted. He shot up quickly, standing so fast he startled her badly. "How the hell did we get here?"

"What's wrong?" she asked, alarmed. A kunai had already appeared in her hand. "What's the matter? Are we in danger?"

"What? No! No, no, sorry. It's just… that... this…" He put his shock in check and tried again. "There's a Materia here!"

She looked confused for a moment. Then understanding flashed in her eyes and she lowered her weapon. "Oh. That makes sense."

"How did we get here?" Naruto asked again. "Did we stumble here… by chance?"

"'Stumble' sounds about right. You were the one to lead us to this cave," she said, sitting down again. "This explains why it looked like you actually knew where we were going."

"So…" he started, looking for confirmation, "I was unconsciously following the pull of the Materia? Which is somewhere in this place?"

She shrugged. "Seems like it."

"That's freaking awesome!" he cheered. His loud voice echoed throughout the narrow passage, making Sakura wince. He toned it down, smiling guiltily. "Sorry."

She dropped the slight glare almost at once, looking away. "It's alright. At least one of us will come out of this nightmare with something good."

He had to frown slightly at that, hesitating only a moment before speaking up. "It's not that bad."

"Yeah, right."

"No, I'm serious," he said more forcefully. "We're still going to kick ass and pass this exam."

She shook her head slowly, and in the darkness of the cave, he had to fire another... err, _Poisona _to see her face. He didn't like her expression at all. It looked like defeat.

"You can't give up, Sakura-chan!" Standing up from his kneeled position, he walked around Sasuke lying between them and sat right in front her. "We are much better off than I feared when we were fighting that freak. I… I honestly thought – just for a moment – that we… well, that we wouldn't have passed the exam."

She shifted her eyes to him as if to check that he was sincere. He shrugged. He didn't like to admit it but he had actually despaired during their confrontation with the Grass shinobi. Death had looked quite certain for a moment, there.

"But… we're okay now," he continued, putting the upsetting matter aside. "Sasuke is going to be fine by morning, we still have our scroll and soon we'll get our hands on the other one we need."

She bit her lower lip hesitantly. "We _do _have still a lot of time to get to the tower."

"Exactly!"

"But… what about your Materia?" she asked. "The one that got stolen? Which one was it?"

Naruto's face darkened fractionally as he recalled his missing summon.

"Leviathan," he grumbled quietly, but it took him barely a second to replace his scowl with a determined expression. He looked at her straight in the eyes. "Sakura-chan… I swear to God, I'm going to get it back if it's the last thing I do! Maybe not now or even soon. But I'm going to get stronger. And then I'm going to find that freak and take what's mine." Lit up by the green glow of Poisona, Naruto's grin turned feral. "Believe it."

He beamed at her when she looked somewhat cheered up and then sent a clone to retrieve the Materia hidden somewhere down the cave. When he glanced at her after using his healing jutsu for the umpteenth time, however, she had gone back to the grim expression of before.

"That ninja…" she said, and her bitter face made it clear who she was talking about. "What do you think he meant when he said he was here for Sasuke? He could have easily killed us… killed _him_." She looked down at their sleeping teammate, frowning. "Was poisoning him his plan?"

Naruto thought about it for a moment before shaking his head. "I don't know, Sakura-chan."

"He went out of his way to put that mark on him. I wish I knew what it was."

"Kakashi is going to get rid of it as soon as we tell him," he said immediately, resolution once again lacing his voice. He thought back at the results of his Sense Materia when he had used it on the snake-freak. "If not him, then the Hokage certainly will."

Much to his surprise, the girl's voice didn't sound relieved at all at those words.

"Sensei is going to help Sasuke. You are helping him right now." He couldn't quite see her face, but her eyes were shining brightly in the darkness of the cave. "What am _I _doing?"

"What does that mean? You are helping us! We're a team and-"

"I'm useless!" The forcefulness of the sentence echoed against the rocky walls in the silence that followed. Getting over his surprise, Naruto was about to reply when she continued. "I'm always in the way, needing to be protected. You guys got hurt because of me, because I can't do anything good! I'm no good!"

"That's not true, Sakura-chan!"

"Yes, it is!" she fired back. She stood up quickly, hands closed tightly into fists at her sides. "We've been in this forest for a few hours and if it hadn't been for you I would be lying dead somewhere! If not by the poison of those lizards then swallowed whole by that summon!"

The blond stood up too, struggling to find suitable words to express his disagreement. "What-what about afterwards, then? Who took care of us when Sasuke and I couldn't?"

"Who did?" she repeated, as if that proved _her_ point, not his. "If you hadn't woken up, what would I have done for Sasuke-kun? Changed the cloth on his forehead? All I could really do was booby-trap this place!" She took a deep breath and her voice shook a little when she continued more softly. "I can't believe I even _thought _of becoming the greatest kunoichi ever. I'm such an idiot. The team would be better off without me…"

Naruto's mouth worked silently for a second before finally speaking.

"The first test, then!" he said triumphantly. "What would _I _have done without you, there, eh, Sakura-chan?"

She growled in the darkness. "Don't get me started on that… that _farce_! It spat on everything we ever learnt at the Ninja Academy! On the only thing I was ever good at!"

The blond was more than a little taken aback by that.

"What?" he said simply.

"All the years I spent on the books, studying like an obsessed… all the grades I've ever earned… they don't mean anything at all to them!" She was practically shouting now, her words bouncing off the narrow passage of rock with unpleasant effects, but she didn't seem to care at the moment. "The first part of that test was all about cheating and stealing the answers, as opposed to actually knowing them. It would have been alright, though, if they had been worth something in the end, but guess what? _They weren't..._ because all you needed in order to pass was _deciding_ _to take the last damn question_!"

Naruto was speechless. He hadn't thought that far ahead – or underneath – and he forced himself to do it then. He considered the first test and what it had really been about, and found himself agreeing with her friend's assessment. Trying to put himself in her position, in the position of someone who took pride on her knowledge and on her past of best student, he couldn't quite understand how the girl must have felt. That was why she hadn't looked very happy after passing the test, probably, not because of his stunt of stealing her answers, like he had thought at the time.

As he realized this, Sakura slid back to the ground, leaning tiredly against the cave's rock.

"Sakura-chan..."

She shook her head while he tried to think of something to say.

"It wasn't enough that the real world had already made it crystal clear that all I had done in school meant nothing…" she said very quietly. "It had to be made _official_."

Slipping down further, she rolled on her side until she was facing away from him.

"I'm tired of being useless."

Naruto tried to talk and found himself unable to. He felt uncertainty and worry gnaw at his stomach and he didn't know what he wanted more, whether to hug or shout at her.

_He _felt useless.

"Sakura-chan… I-"

"I want to sleep a little, Naruto," she all but whispered, interrupting him, but to his ears, her soft voice sounded a hundred times scarier than the previous angry tone. "Goodnight."

He could only stare at her in distress before looking away.

"Goodnight," he whispered back.

He didn't even care when his Kage Bunshin returned with a new green Materia.


End file.
